socks again

Facing miles and miles of garter stitch, I find myself contemplating why I am a sock knitter. Or IF I am a sock knitter. I guess the pictures speak for themselves, so here are some of the pictures.

These were probably the first pairs I ever made. 2 skeins of yarn, 3 pairs of socks. I learned about how top down socks can be too tight to put on. If you notice the thin line of another color of yarn at the top of one of the red pairs, I cut the tops off and added a sewn bind off to replace the original tops.

On this pair I learned toe up and I also found eye of partridge toes and heels, halfway through, the right one has them, the left one only has heels.

These were toe up from a pattern that was top down. By this point I think I was really a sock knitter, not just playing with it.

Monkeys ... need I say more?

Fair isle knitting of my own creation. The left ones are merino, the right ones are cotton. I am not a knitter for cotton, though in the mass picture over on my picture blog you can see one more pair.. I am wearing them... that are cotton fair isle that I do love dearly.

In addition to these, I have also finished 3 pairs each, or maybe 4 each, for Bob and Fred, where I have spent Christmas many years, a pair for Travis and a pair for Jenni, and a pair for Josephine, all blogless for a variety of reasons.

I've also done 2 sweaters since knitting came back to me a few years ago and a variety of small things, but it seems that once I figured out socks I always have a pair going somewhere, even including the Jacobean socks from hell.

They have been torn back 4 separate times. It is a pattern that does not lend itself to A train work, and when it does get knitted it seems to be particularly prone to holes, thin spots and general insanity. But one is done so they WILL get finished.

Because I know some of you care not one fig for knitting, I will only say one other thing... toe up, 2 circular needles, one sock at a time. If you know what I mean, you're a sock knitter ... and I am now, despite the Jacobean diversion, facing miles and miles of garter stitch.