Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Socks

I've been catching up on my sock projects. These are all washed and blocked and will soon be sent to warm the toes of their intended recipients. First, we have a pair of truly wild socks I made from a "sock blank" I dyed myself. (Scroll down a few entires to see it in "blank" form and skein form.) I did end up unraveling the sock blank into two separate balls, being as I was just not ready to experiment with two socks on one circular needle. Not with these babies. Say hello to Bijoox's Grateful Undead socks. They are one of a kind. I may be able to approximate the dye job again, but it will never be duplicated exactly. I'm rather proud of the way these came out. Unrepentently fraternal, as many of my socks are.

More sedate, but wonderfully cushy are the socks below, made from an unknown wool blend yarn from my stash. This is something I inherited cones of from my former place of employment, and I wanted to see how it would work up. There may be some acrylic in it, but it makes a gorgeous fabric, doesn't it? I've overdyed some skeins, too, and think so far the blue came out best. It has a speckly, denimy look, and I will be selling it on Etsy at some point. The socks below are done with the yarn as is, directly from the cone. Really nice ragg effect, don't you think? complex colors, too, with some white, some gray, and some bluish gray. These are a long overdue present for Larry Kirwan. I'm embarrassed to say it has been almost a year since he asked me when I might make him another pair. I think he'll find they were worth the wait.
Why do I knit for Larry, and not for my husband?

Larry has small feet, the same size as mine, and he likes colorful socks. Also, when I gave him the first pair back in 2001 or thereabouts, he promised to wash them by hand. It's also a way to give back something nice for all the music, literature, and friendship Larry has given me over the years since we first met. (I knew the music long before I made the acquaintance of the man behind it.)

My hubby won't wear anything but black, brown, or navy blue, and he has a 12-inch foot. I made him a navy blue pair once, and it was an interminable knit. When they were done, he wore them once and...threw them in the washer and dryer! Luckily, the yarn must have been superwash, because the socks didn't shrink and he can still wear them.

Ummm...and he lived after I found the socks in the dryer. If they had shrunk, though, after all that knitting...ooh, I don't want to think about it!

Lest anyone think he is neglected in any way, I do feed him. Very well. Bearing that in mind, it doesn't bother him too much that I don't want to knit socks for him anymore.

1 comment:

Alison said...

How did I miss this entry earlier? Those socks are GORGEOUS!!!

--AlisonH at spindyeknit.com (Blogger will try to link to my long-moved-away-from Blogger blog)