It used to be a bit of joke in our family that if you couldn’t think of a present for my Dad, then socks were always useful. Each year my Dad would get a selection of socks, some serious, some jokey and there were certain relatives who could be depended on year after year to replenish his sock drawer.
Well this year I became that relative. I did at least knit the socks and we all know the wonders of wearing hand knit socks and what fun they are to knit. So my nephew who is now officially too big for a knitted sweater for christmas – his sweaters would now need to be about my size and given that I haven’t finished a sweater for myself all year, even I don’t believe the time space continuum will warp sufficiently in the run up to Christmas to make knitting one a viable option – got his first knitted socks. Having removed the sweater rod from my back I’m quite aware that I may be making another if he falls in love with hand knit socks, but this is a rod I can bear – who knows it may even improve my posture.
His socks were knit in Sirdar Heart and Sole, a self striping yarn and the perfect colours for him. This yarn was new to me and bought from the fabulous Vivian Westwools in Blackpool which has a great range of sock yarns… They’re a simple toe up 54 stitch sock with an afterthought heel. This was the perfect marginal time knitting project, totally portable and knitable in the dark, and much of the first sock was knit in the car by the light of motorway ‘streetlights’. I was slow to block them and then forgot about taking a picture so this was done hurridly just as they were about to be wrapped.
The second pair of Christmas socks were knit for my niece. I’m wary of knitting for teenagers as they can be so style conscious it’s easy to get it so wrong, but socks aren’t the most obvious item of clothes we wear, and they are prefect for slouching around in at home. Again these are toe up, this time with 60 stitches and again with the afterthought heel. The yarn is Old Maiden Aunt Superwash merino in the Limited Edition, Nothing to Hide colour way. These were knitted all over the place, again portability contributed to them being done in time. I was even organised enough to get some pictures of these on the tree.
In case you’re wondering, both pairs of socks are shown on my handmade cardboard wrapped in plastic blockers. I made these for blocking socks smaller than my own by drawing round my larger wooden blockers and then cutting around inside the line. They do the job well.
My niece has demonstrated herself to be totally sock worthy and seems to love her socks so I fear I may indeed fall into being the aunt who gives socks every year… But I can live with that.
