Category Archives: Grey Socks

Ode To Socks

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9

  I finished my second pair of Regular Ol’ Socks.  Socks as soft as rabbits, knitted by me!

Ode to My Socks  by Pablo Neruda

Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder’s hands,
two socks as soft as rabbits.
I slipped my feet into them
as if they were two cases
knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,
Violent socks,
my feet were two fish made of wool,
two long sharks
sea blue, shot through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons,
my feet were honored in this way
by these heavenly socks.
They were so handsome for the first time
my feet seemed to me unacceptable
like two decrepit firemen,
firemen unworthy of that woven fire,
of those glowing socks.

Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp temptation
to save them somewhere as schoolboys
keep fireflies,
as learned men collect
sacred texts,
I resisted the mad impulse to put them
in a golden cage and each day give them
birdseed and pieces of pink melon.
Like explorers in the jungle
who hand over the very rare green deer
to the spit and eat it with remorse,
I stretched out my feet and pulled on
the magnificent socks and then my shoes.

The moral of my ode is this:
beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in winter.

Sock Pattern :  “Classic Socks” in “Folk Socks”  by Nancy Bush
Yarn : 75% Superwash Merino/25% Nylon, in fingering weight
Find on Ravelry.

Happiness Is…

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11

My first pair of regular ol’ socks done & dusted !

:: claps wildly ::

And now I think I’ll start another pair just the same as I finished, in lavendar heathered yarn, and they will be for my nieces’ mom.

Sock Pattern : “Classic Socks” in “Folk Socks” by Nancy Bush
Yarn : 75% Superwash Merino/25% Nylon, in fingering weight
Find on Ravelry.

Amusing

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12


Okay folks,  I really blew it.  So badly in fact, that I’m embarrassed to admit it, but come to think of it, I’m positive it’s a mistake common enough among knitters, but it is quite amusing. Still. I knit merrily along on the first sock using two 16″ circular needles ~ five inches of 2/2 rib in fact ~ and I realized something funny about it when I wanted to start up the second, to catch up to the first. Don’t you know…I had two different sized needles on the sock.  Yup the correct size #3 and then for the second needle, a #2.  Yes, I admit to you total brainlessness, but at this point I’m really laughing because:

I thought I’d start ribbing on sock #2 with the suggested size needles for the pattern , #3’s, and see if they are really all that different.  Either my karma is for me , or against me, hard to tell, because after knitting knit 1.5 inches on second sock, I noticed I did the very same thing, used both a #2 and a #3 in the ribbing…. again !!!! How can this be? I have a needle size measuring tool ! Ha ha…

I suppose it’s better this way, making the two ribbed sections the same. Blow off knitting over, I’m going to just repeat my mistake.  In fact, I’ve fashioned this neat method of knitting 3/4’s of the round with one needle, then switching, knitting 3/4’s of a round again, and so on, thus rotating the different sizes around the sock pretty swiftly. My guess is that is will jsut look like homespun.  Oh, and I will make for dang sure I switch to *both* needles #3 when I begin the foot section next.

I have successfully knit both socks to the end of the rib, but I’m noticing my left thumb hurting a bit. (drat). I am ready to knit the heel flaps !!!!  Last time I did this was the one pair of kilt hose, when Morrie coached me through the eye-of-partridge-stitch last year about this time. This pattern does not call for any particular stitch for the heel, just has knitting pattern instruction… just ” Add reinforcing yarn if desired.” Um…  I need Morrie ! (Morrie, do you have Nancy Bush’s “Folk Socks”? ( Pg.59) And Lizzi ! And Sarah !

Okay though, seriously, my thumb is killing me, and I’ve got to stop knitting. I believe it is from playing a 4hr gig on Sunday which has inflamed the tendons, and now this frantic sock knitting has made it quite sore. Going to put the needles down for the rest of the day.

Folk Socks

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Have started a little project from this book :

The “Classic Sock” .

Finally something for Jeff, though I had to twist his arm leg to let me knit them for him.  He’s just so sensitive to anything even remotely woolly, but I’m very confident the soft superwash merino wool & nylon blend will be soft enough. At about a thousand stitches per inch, these are going to take the remainder of spring and into the summer.  However, I do have a little fantasy of whipping them out, then carrying on with yet another pair from the same book ~maybe the Welsh Country Stockings I posted over in the sidebar, which I envision making for my sister-in-law (I’ve bought the yarn already) Then, after flying through those, I’ll be finally ready to knit myself a pair of knee-high socks of some kind.  Maybe even still another from the book, such as the ” Schottische Kilt Hose” from the same book … or something very kilt-hose-like from another source. We’ll see, that’s far down the road, and as yet, aside from these kilt hose … I’ve not knit a single pair of regular socks yet ! Ever !