Unlikely Love Affair

I have been knitting for thirty-five years now and I could never understand why anyone would want to spend their time knitting sox. Why knit something that you can go to the store and buy so cheaply? Recently Daughter #1 and Daughter #2 have grown to the point where their feet are the same size as mine. Now that their feet are as large as mine I cannot keep sox in my drawer.

I have never been hard on footware and so a pair of shoes or even a pair of sox would last forever. I have been known to wear sox for years before they wear out. But since the Daughters have caught up with me in foot size they have begun to wear out their sox like normal people and so I find myself in the distressful situation where my sock drawer gets raided regularly. Theirs have holes in them and so "Mom always has sox, lets go get hers," seems to be the new norm.

Finding myself without sox on a regular basis has created a necessity to knit sox that are different from store bought ones so that I know when the Daughters are sneaking off with mine. I bought the wool, I bought the needles and started to check out patterns. I believe I've told you about N who brought her sox that she was knitting to Knit Night. Her plum lovelies actually started me looking for sock patterns. Then locking my keys and knitting in my truck on a weekend away necessitated that I purchase a new project to knit. What better time to take up the knitting of sox.

I have enjoyed the knitting of my first pair of sox far more than I ever expected, and turning a heal was far easier than I ever expected too. I have enjoyed a stimulating discussion regarding sock knitting on the popular spinning group Canspin. I've downloaded more sock patterns than I will ever knit. As a result, I find I have become caught in some sock vortex and so has begun a love affair with the lowly sock. I look forward to picking up my socks each day and knitting a few more rows. I look on them on the table by my chair with pride. I pick them up regularly and look over the portion I have finished and smile a gratified smile of pride and joy. If this is not a love affair with sox I don't know what is.

I keep wondering if it is the real thing and that my love affair will bloom into a lifetime love or whether the initial joy will burn away and I will discover the flaws of sock knitting thereby ending a beautiful love affair.

In the meantime here is my first pair.....