shoes galore, but a hardly a sock to show for my efforts!

it's so sad when you have to say goodbye to a pair of handknit socks! i began knitting this pair of socks about 5 years ago. after completing the 1st sock, i realized that i could have have made it a bit longer. over the course of the next 2 years or more i reknit that sock and finished the second one. patternwise these are nothing special. i like my socks pretty simple because in the time that it takes to knit a really beautiful and complicated pair that requires following a pattern and reading charts and the like i could knit a pullover. seriously.

i am so addicted to handknit socks that i no longer wear (or even own) store bought socks. for someone so addicted you would think that i would be a bit more on the ball about this sock knitting thing. on average, i finish about a a pair and a half a year. now i'm down to one pair of hole free, handknit socks. this is dire.

i tried to offer Cookie yarn or other goodies in exchange for knitting me a pair of socks with one her fabulous designs. i think she thought i was joking and / or crazy. this is serious people. with all the book knitting going on there's not much time for other projects.

remember that Socktoberfest sock i was showing off at Lolly's during the Yarnplay blog tour? well, this is how much progress i've made on that same sock since a few months ago. not much. if you feel in inspired to knit these for me, i'd send you a nice little knitter's care package in exchange.

Comments

[sappmama]

You've made me feel for your handknit sockless dearth to the point where I wish I could knit you some. In fact, I will! Someday. Once I learn how. And then once I get the 35 other projects lying around my apartment in various states of duress finished.

Well, shit, it'll be a while.

But I ventured over to Cookie's and she seems like a nice person. I say you show her the holes you've shown us. I think she'll come through. :)

[shobhana]

=)

[Emy]

I'd raise my hand, but I'm no good at finishing things these days. :P If I ever get cracking on socks again, I'll keep you in mind. ;)

[Holly Burnham]

STOP!!!!!!! No! Don't ditch those socks. You can make them like new by just doing a duplicate stitch over the heel sole......it's easy........

[shobhana]

but the chances of me actually getting around to doing that are slim to none! i'm just bad that way. =)

[Christine]

It is quite tempting to take up the offer to knit some of those for you. Hmmmmm... What size shoe do you wear? Can I come to Austin and interview you for the podcast? ;-) (Hey, it is all about the win-win, you know?)

[wendy]

Shoot, I'd send you some of ours, but we wear them so much that most of ours have holes these days. I think we started out with maybe 30 pair (no lie) a couple years ago, and now we have maybe 10 left. So sad to see them go, but the joy of wearing hand-knit socks defies all else and who cares about the holes?

I know you don't turn them out too quickly, so maybe find a way to darn them? Or maybe look at Elizabeth Zimmermann's writings on re-footable socks? (I love EZ, but I'm not so sure about the re-footables...)

Happy New Year!

[Cambria W]

I'll knit you a pair. Just send me your size and if you could give me a heads up as to where that yarn can be found? My two LYS's don't carry any. Or, if you don't care I've got some Regia that was supposed to be a pair of lace socks for me and they're too small so I'm gonna make them into something else. They're a striped baige, very subtle.

[Sophia]

Ooo, I'll knit some for you! I absolutely adore the pattern, I just made a pair for myself and as always Cookies directions are amazing.

[Becca]

I totally understand the obsession. I was silly and made some socks for other people, and they loved them. Now I have a list that I have to make for friends (damn holidays) and no new socks are making their way into my sock drawer!

The real reason I wanted to leave a comment was that I bought your book with a Gift Certificate I received for Christmas. It's beautiful, and I'm excited at the prospect of knitting a lot of the patterns, but that's not what I wanted to write you about. I was reading through the book, and stopped to show my husband one of the patterns (the man's sweater, I think). He then took the book and read the rest of it before I had a chance to. He's not a knitter and is usually supportive, but doesn't really do anything more than step over my knitting books. He was just so drawn to the design of your book and the patterns and just went on and on about what a cool book it is and how I must knit this pattern and that pattern . . . yadda yadda yadda. It really made clear to me what a great book it is. It even speaks to non-knitters! So congrats on the fantastic book, and I wish you continued success!

[shobhana]

becca - i am speechless. your comments (and your husband's) really mean a lot to me. there are so many knitting books out there and, naturally, you want your own to stand out. i didn't have much of an idea about how to make that happen. so, instead of being transfixed by other people's work, i just decided to really do my own thing and develop my own voice / vision. it seems that's working for me! =)

[gail]

Your socks can be repaired, especially if you have some leftover yarn. When my sock heels and "balls" b egin to wear thin, I just duplicate stitch over the thin parts and, voila, many more years of wear!! To fix the hole, run a thread where the bottom of the second row would be (moving from bottom to top). Then duplicate stitch going in rows going a bit below and then a bit above the hole. Works like a dream. Oh, don't forget to remove the thread that helped you to do two rows of duplicate stitch.