Obsessed with Socks

The knitting of them, that is. Years ago, many years ago, I tried to knit a pair. My mother-in-law knit them constantly, pair after pair, but only for her husband. I thought, "If she can do it, so can I." This thought happens once in a while and gets me in trouble. When I was in college, I spent ten months knitting a cable-knit Irish sweater out of lovely wool, because someone else was, and if she could.....



When I was in my twenties, I decided that I could wash said sweater. Yes, I could and I did. But then I couldn't wear it again. And neither could anyone else. It felted, really, really felted. That was a hard lesson to learn. I still have the sweater, and if I can bear to cut into it, I may make it into a bag--with lovely, brown leather handles I've seen at my local yarn shop.



But back to the socks. The pair that I started years ago because if my mother-in-law........I sent the OTN half-finished sock to her along with directions and the rest of the yarn. I don't know if she finished them or not. I'm sure she was not impressed with my lack of stick-to-it-ive-ness, but she was a nice mother-in-law and never said a word.



More recently, I've been going to a knit night at my LYS for over a year, and many of the women there knit socks (among many other amazing things) and I always said to them that I would NEVER knit socks. Nope. Not me. However, I am not a good enough knitter to go into a knit shop, see yarn I love, and know how much to buy to knit a sweater or whatever. I have to have a pattern with me. But one evening, Susan, who now works at the knit shop, told me that I could always buy sock yarn. A light bulb moment. And so I have--bought and bought and bought.



I just finished a pair knit from the new Noro sock yarn. There are some problems with this yarn, and some people just don't like it. After I came to the knot when I got to the bottom of a seven-inch cuff, I was among those swearing at Noro sock yarn. But I kept at it, through the thick and thin of the stuff, and the scratchy, stringiness of it, and finished the socks. I love them!


I'm now on the next pair, but not of Noro, just nice, ordinary, soft sock yarn. And I'm bored! I want to knit with Noro again. The colors are spectacular. But I have to finish the current pair, and I hope I don't get tired of knitting socks any time soon. I have so much sock yarn stash!