Continuing from Part One~ John Muir High Country & Wild Wool, all about the “Father of Modern Environmentalism”, my mountaineering past, and hinting about the noble, the agile, yay, and the soft downy woolly wild creature worthy of Muir’s musings in “Wild Wool” .
Wild Wool indeed. These sheep range the Sierra Nevada from the desert to the high mountains, and after reading Muir’s Wild Wool, I thought it a perfect name for my new design!
Wild Wool Trail Socks
Those my friends, are the very same boots and walking stick you see in this photo, the stick & boots which have accompanied me many miles to many lakes where I’ve sat with much knitting in-the-wild, and the stick which is a prop for many knitwear photos on Yarnings as well.
After all, knitting in the wild is my favorite thing to do and John Muir’s High Sierra is my favorite place to be!
Trail socks designed with sturdy structure and ease of knitting. Wide ribbing, corrugated ribbed ankle, “mock heel flap” (featuring the Stong Heel~ no stitches to pick up for gusset), cushioning stranded heel turn, gusset, upper instep & toe. Knit in-the-round seamlessly. Five sizes, x-small thru x-large. Options for short & ankle versions of trail sock. These trail socks are designed with function in mind, and for comfort in rugged use, where custom fit is best, and structural design elements are what they’re all about. Oh, and there are variations on the theme, a Classic Country Sock and “Wee Wild Wool” for kid hikers . . .
I honestly think John Muir would approve and would have wished he had a new knitted pair of these while he walked the wilderness in his leather-soled boots of a bygone era.
Edit In April 23: Folks, sometimes we do things unaware of the obvious workings beneath our conscience. Well, those of you who realize what an important man John Muir was influencing the government to create the National Parks, and (as my husband Jeff just showed me an article in May Outside Magazine which just arrived...) that this year is the Centennial Year the National Parks were established (posthumously, after Muir died in December of 2014) in the year of 1916 !
Now, as coincidence happens, I have submitted the pattern Wild Wool Trail Socks on this date, as a tribute to John Muir, on his actual birthday ~~ April 21st.
Those of you who are joining in on the John Muir Tribute on Ravelry, there are major things to celebrate! Knit on my friends, enjoy yourself… knit for the beauty of nature and perhaps just a little bit for Muir’s birthday. (I’m sure he’d have enjoyed a pair of Wild Wool Trail Socks for his birthday).
We camped at Granite Lake in Muir Country for our anniversary, July 2014
