Sock Hound

My four-footed nephew Bailey is a sock hound. Given the run of my house his main aim in life is to get into my bedroom and root around until he finds a sock. He then nonchalantly trots back with the sock in his mouth like butter wouldn't melt.

If you try to get the sock from him he bounds off, sock still in mouth, delighted that the trick has worked and you are chasing him. The only way to retrieve the sock is to wait until he drops it, usually a bit grubbier but not damaged.

The thing that amazes me, given the usual state of my bedroom and the many more noxious things he could pick up - why socks?

The Sisterhood of Sock Knitters

How lovely are these? Regia sock yarns just ordered from http://www.mcadirect.com/.

Since learning to knit when I was eight, and learning to knit on four needles not long after, I have always loved knitting socks.

As well as being another of those heritage type things - like jam making and bread making, knitting socks is curiously soothing and incredibly satisfying.

I bought some of this sock yarn a few months ago from the craft place in Embsay and only recently dug it out when I was in desperate need of a small project and soothing by something other than chocolate. The yarn I am knitting now is self-patterning in dark blue, grey and cobalt blue stripes and is incredibly soft.

The pattern I am using is from one of my pre-war knitting books. Amongst the patterns for dresses, bras, underskirts, underpants (yes really) all in 4-ply wool on size 10 (3.25mm) needles there are several patterns for socks, stockings (fine made out of silk, thicker made from wool) plus instructions for each component of the sock - leg, heel, instep and toe.

Playing with the components on sock number one has been fun - the dutch heel was too clumpy so it was pulled out and an auto heel done, the flat toe was too bulky at the end so it was pulled out and a round toe done. Not knowing how long a sock 50g would make I did an ankle length and then unpicked and knitted up to make a longer sock at the same time substituting the single for a double rib.

I have a tin full of double pointed needles (dpns) that I have been given by Mum and picked up over the years from charity shops. The dpns I am using at the moment are are size 14 (2mm), short, with well worn points, needles that have been used for years by another woman, that have produced dozens of pairs of socks.*

The plan is to make myself socks to wear when I work from home, warm comforting and satisfying to look and also to make some for Christmas presents. I have a sock fiend friend who would probably enjoy a pair in the blue (shade 'Florida') and Mum is angling for me to make some for Dad.

*Although I don't have a rose tinted view of this - me knitting socks for relaxation is one thing, a woman sitting in a fire lit room after an exhausting day forced to knit in order to cloth her family is quite another.