Shoemaker Syndrome

About 2 weeks ago, I hauled out the contents of my handknit sock drawer, which had been lying fallow for the summer,  gave everything a bubble bath and lay it out to dry.  That’s when I noticed.  The contents of my sock drawer are, considering that I am a sock knitter of a reasonably prolific nature, sort of meagre and shoddy.  They all have holes, or darned spots or holes and darned spots, and dudes… it’s not how a knitters sock drawer should look.  You’d think that I’d have a pretty formidable selection from which to choose, but there’s nearly squat in there.  I think what happened is that a couple of years ago I noticed the same thing and went on a big self-sock knitting jag, filled the drawer with socks my size, and then continued on my merry way, meeting the demands of familial and friendly sock drawers – and didn’t think about what would happen next.

What happened next is that since all of the socks are about the same age,  they all had a similar lifespan, and they all got worn about the same amount and therefore, all got their first holes about the same time, were darned about the same time, got their second holes in another communal wave of woolly disintegration, and have now all died entirely in what feels like a plague set upon my sock drawer.  I’ve decided to fix that right up by whipping myself up a few pairs, and then to henceforth remedy this by adding to it now and then, just so they can’t all expire at once.  I thought that this pair would be the first to replenish the drawer…

STR Lightweight, colourway "Petroglyphs" – no pattern, just a little seed stitch and ribbing slammed into my my standard sock recipe .  2.25mm needles.

They fit, they’re charming and cozy, and they’re colours I love and sort of wear. (Except the red – well, and the yellow.  Ok. I really only wear that brown and that grey, but everyone needs the zip in thir wardrobe to come from somewhere) and they worked up fast.  Only problem is, the other night when I was over at my mum’s, she admired them.  And they fit her. And she asked if they were for her. And – well.  I love my mum and like it when she loves socks and… you can guess what decision I made next. 

Christmas is coming after all, and there does need to be socks for the people who love to get them – and I love giving socks to people who value them and love to get them.  I really love it. Making socks for other people is a real pleasure.  It’s the only reason, really, that a sock knitter who churns out this many socks wouldn’t have any.  I’m not a martyr though, and I’m trying to remember that I’m a person who really values hand knit socks and loves to get them too, so I’ve wasted invested some time this afternoon hunting up a pattern for a really beautiful skein of yarn I wrestled Rachel H for in a sick knitters cage match at Lettuce Knit purchased, and with my wool as my witness, they will be mine.

Dream in Color Starry – Chinatown Apple colourway. Pattern as yet undecided. Maybe Nutkin.

Ever have trouble keeping your knitting for yourself? Own many socks?

271 thoughts on “Shoemaker Syndrome

  1. Someone’s always claiming my handknit socks. I have to steal them from the kids’ drawers when I want to wear a pair that I knit for myself. There ‘ought’a be a law!

  2. I gave away ALL my cross-stitch, but am trying to knit mostly for me…kids growing faster than I can knit anyway. Also have to wait until I can see something on floor w/o killing perp. First comment today?!

  3. I usually keep about 1/4 to 1/3 of all I knit. I love having them, and I love giving them away…

  4. All of my socks are anklets squeezed out of the orphan single balls of wool from the sale bin. Having small feet helps to get two socks out of 50g, but now that the weather is turning I wish I had some ‘real’ full size socks for myself. Maybe after the Christmas knitting frenzy is done….

  5. I have a whole lot of socks that need darning. They also seemed to develop holes at about the same time. I’m not too good at darning, though, and have only darned a couple pair. The others are patiently waiting their turn (although their wait may be pretty long). This summer I’ve been working on new socks for myself. Only knit socks for me or my husband. Others I tell – “I’ll teach you how to knit them for yourselves.” That works – sometimes.
    Love the colorway of your yarn.

  6. I love to make socks for others, I just wish I were better at it. Then again, given that my dad *threw away* the socks I made him ’cause I’d dropped a stitch and they ran, he’s now off the sock list. Hubby is always the first to benefit.

  7. Reminds me to knit up some socks for Darling Daughter, who wears hand knit socks all the time — except when wearing her Tevas. I like the stripey and ribbing together.

  8. Always, they never even make it off the needles. It is a joy to give something that is so wanted. Actually I did keep one pair and I loved them so much that when we moved I put them in a “special place.” That was three years ago and they are still there.

  9. Stephanie, if I had a nickel for every pair of socks I’ve given away…. well, let’s just say I’d be able to buy LOTS more sock yarn! I personally have three pair that are mine now, with a pair in the drawer for someone else, and a pair on needles for someone else. I’m trying to have a few more pair for myself, but someone ALWAYS sees me knitting and ALWAYS wants them, soooo…. I have a bad case of knit lots have nots too.

  10. Aaaaaah! Just finished a Lucy Neatby capelet with the solid color being a dream in color stardust with that lovely metallic glint going throughout. The HP was a Wollmeise “Thriller” colorway.
    True love, and better than socks.

  11. I’m a blanket maker. I’ve made dozens of them. I’m often cold. I only have two blankets I’ve made myself (and one only accidentally so).
    Since I’m knee-deep in Christmas crafting already, I think I sense a new year’s resolution coming on…

  12. I learned how to knit (about 2 years ago) specifically to learn how to knit socks. I have yet to knit a pair for myself. I must say, it is a pretty great feeling to knit socks for someone else. I’m finishing a pair for my father and then 2010 is all about knitting socks for myself. Of course, I’ve been collecting spectacular patterns and beautiful sock yarns for two years so the hand-knit socks that I finally keep for myself are going to be stunning!

  13. Nice to have you back. Your (mom’s) new socks are lovely. Socks are so mindless, they let us escape, that and the drink on the coffee table. Cheers to sock knitting.

  14. I keep purchasing sock yarn with visions of them decorating my feet but I do tend to crank a few gift pairs out over the holidays but only for a select few.

  15. I feel terrible. All of the socks I’ve made have only been for me. I can churn out two at a time toe ups, but they are all for me. Now the mittens and wrist warmers go to others. I can’t part with the socks. I don’t know why.

  16. I just knit my first pair of socks for myself THIS YEAR. And they are awesome. Crabby McHappypants knee socks. Good stuff.
    The Petroglyph socks are beautiful. Sock On!

  17. I have one lonely pair of hand knit socks. Everyone else on my most loved persons list has at least 4 pairs, many have more. I think I also need to fix this issue.

  18. Um. . . decided to count my socks on hand and found 20 pair. Well, my daughter hasn’t been in recently to help herself to the ones she’d like. Had no idea there were that many here. And those are the finished ones!! More on the way, and these are only a very few of the ones I’ve knit. For big people to babies, I knit socks almost constantly along with all my other projects (don’t ask!). Love those traveling projects!

  19. Funny you should ask this today.
    I was folding and putting laundry away this morning, all from a bag of clothes that had been stashed since before the move in June, and came across a pair I had knit for myself and forgotten about. I was so amazed that I just stood there with the socks in my hand and I kept asking my 11 year old son (a frequent recipient of my handknit socks), “Did I knit these for myself?” Then I had a vague memory of making a firm decision that such a sock knitter as myself really aught to have more than ONE pair. Ahah! I now have TWO pair.
    The other thing on my mind today about socks is that we are experiencing the phenomenon of the youngest child outgrowing handknit socks.
    My eldest is 19 and into adult sizes, so she’ll be WEARING OUT her socks. My youngest is 9 and is even outgrowing the handed-down socks which I had knit for older children back when.
    I’m going to keep the outgrown socks, in my Special Keeping trunk. Yes, they are certainly more plentiful and ‘every day’ than the sweet little jackets and hats I’d knit for my babies, but all the same, I can’t part with them.
    A very clever friend suggested that she would make dolls for future grandchildren with them.
    Anyone else keep the children’s socks?

  20. Hmmm, I’m lucky – I get to keep them all to myself…mine, all mine!!! Husband, mum and friends get the occasional pair, but otherwise sock-knitting and buying sock yarn is my guilty pleasure

  21. Having been mostly unfortunate with the recipients of my socks, I have close to a dozen pairs. I now refuse to give them to anyone who doesn’t knit, or at least appreciates what it takes to knit a pair. I have also implemented the same rule about handknits in general, as I have a large family who mostly think these are inexpensive, easy things to create. They appreciate a gift card more, so that’s what they get.

  22. The coolest socks i have ever made (after about 30 pairs so far) were with a Rare Gem colorway i got at Madrona from Blue Moon Fiber arts last year using the Nutkin pattern. It’s got everything required in a pair of socks–fast, clever design, fits perfectly and best of all looks wicked complicated while being really easy to knit. Love that Nutkin.

  23. I have so far knit 12 pairs of socks and only one has been for me but I, too, love giving them away.

  24. In general I don’t keep most of what I knit, not just socks. In fact my niece just visited and left with a scarf intended for her mother and a hat intended for myself. They looked good on her so we both gave them up.
    I can’t tell if it’s because I give away most of what I knit or that I finish projects for others because there is a deadline like a birthday or Christmas. Luckily we started a knitting group at work so now I have no reason not to get socks done just for me. ME!!

  25. I did when I first started knitting. I realized after my first few projects that I didn’t own any of my own hand knits. It was pathetic to the point where I went to SportChek in Regina and bought a hat and scarf because it was -35 and I was freezing. I did this while in the middle of knitting a scarf for a friend.
    This summer I laid down the law and told everyone I was only knitting for myself for the rest of the year. I did make one exception; a scarf for my mum for the upcoming Yule holiday. It’s been awesome knitting for myself. I take pride in wearing what I make.
    It’s also given me the confidence that whatever I dream up I can knit up either by plundering my Ravelry queue or making my own pattern. This guarantees that I have exactly what I want and it’s all custom.

  26. I start knitting socks for Christmas in the summer time and knit them right up to Christmas. Then I determine which pair will fit which recipient and what other knitwear I have made for gifts. After allocating the knitwear as Christmas gifts if there are any socks left over then they are all mine. So far I have I have 5 pairs for me. None have yet needed repair work. I do have a 6th pair I don’t really talk about. I knit them especially for me as the yarn had special significance to me and then after a few wearings and washings I accidently felted them and can’t get them over my heels any longer. Sigh.

  27. Over the years I have knit myself about 1 pair of socks for every 3 or 4 I give away. I usually keep the socks I knit up as a demo in my sock knitting class. I also end up with the plain vanilla socks or basic ribbed and everyone else get the great patterns – no jaywalkers in my drawer, sigh. But it is great to see mom, et al with warm, colorful feet. But they need to stop telling people about this as my knitting list keeps growing and that just means fewer socks for me!

  28. I find sock knitting harder to get around to doing in part because I don’t do it often enough to be good at fitting someone else–so my sock knitting is for me, and I feel guilty the whole time that I’m spending so much time on the most ungrateful knitting recipient of mine I know–me. (With the lecture going on in my head, “You should be making X for Y right now!”)
    So I was delighted when my Sock Summit colorway socks, the first pair I’d knit in six years, fit my daughter better than me. Note that I carefully measured on MY feet all along the way. Note that I wear 6.5 and she wears 9.5.
    See why I knit shawls?! (Although, the pair I knit after that fit me just fine.)
    Anyway. Love those socks! Now go knit yourself a pair too. I did.

  29. Dude, I have maybe three pairs of handknit socks that do not have holes, or have had husbandly laundry accidents.
    I have a very hard time keeping things for myself, or knitting for myself, for that matter… and I knit socks more than anything else!

  30. I only own 4 pair of handknit socks. My husband owns 5 and my mother owns 3. She owns two of those pair by innocently asking me as I knit them who they were for. They were for me but you know what happens there.
    She also snagged my “Sitcom Chic” from me by proclaiming that it looked better on her. And it did. Darnit.

  31. I thought it was just me that caved when beloved friends and family get “that look” in their eyes when they fondle the socks that are FINALLY FOR ME… I still haven’t kept a pair for myself since spring.

  32. Completely understandable- about a month ago I realized that I had not knit myself anything (no socks no sweaters not even a dishcloth) in the last year between all the socks and sweaters for everyone else… I’m working on a pair for myself (3rd pair I own). Good luck with your pair. The yarn is yummy and I put my vote towards the nutkin pattern.

  33. I have learned to be very stingy with my knitting, or maybe I don’t hang out with knitting-lovers. Having said that, though, my sock drawer definitely needs replenishment. Right after the Knitted Vest, Clapotis #12685, and Christmas gloves.

  34. Funny–pretty much the only thing I make for myself is socks. Everything else seems to end up in someone elses closet.

  35. You may have won that round, but I scooped you today in a manner I probably shouldn’t be proud of. Strangely, I am.

  36. I don’t have that many knit lovers, so I have a fair number of socks. My problem is none of my hand knit socks live at home. I need to make myself a pair too outrageous to be worn with black slacks or pinstripes. Maybe something super fuzzy… but not fun fur. Not for my feet.

  37. I suffer from an extreme form of Second Sock Syndrome, and I’ve accepted this so I don’t really have “pairs” of socks. My daughter (she’s 3) apparently has noticed that my socks are never the same and thus throws a hissy fit when I try to get two matching socks on her crazy feet. I’m cool with her wearing one orange sock and one red sock, so… it’s all good.

  38. I am down to one pair of good hand knit socks! It was two until I fell down a flight of stairs last Mon. and the hand knit socks I was wearing got caught on a nail that was missed when they took out my kitchen flooring last month. I’m OK but I miss my socks that are beyond repair.*sniff*. Currently my co-worker owns more of my hand knit socks than I do. She told me a couple of years ago how her grandmother use to knit her socks and how she loved them. That’s all I had to hear. She has been getting hand knit socks for Christmas and Birthday’s from me ever since. I need to knit at least three pairs of Christmas sock before I can ever think about knitting some for me. Commercial socks are that bad. Right? 😛 Just kidding. Really pretty sock pattern your thinking about though.

  39. My mother, sister, and brother always steal my hats. I live with them, though, so I usually manage to steal them back… and I do kind of have a million knitted hats. (They’re fun!)
    @Rachel of the mis-matched socks, all through high school I used to wear mismatched socks for luck, so I sympathise with your daughter! 🙂

  40. I love handknit socks, but have never knit one myself. I would love it if someone gave me some handknit socks, I think I cry if I finally knit my own and then they got holes. Maybe when the kids are a bit older and i have some more downtime.

  41. I keep almost no handknits for myself…but I do have one advantage. Sort of. I have pretty big feet for a woman, and no-one else I know and like well enough to bequeath with knitting wears my size shoes/socks. If I knit ’em for me, they stay with me…
    Something has to make up for the fun that is finding decent-fitting shoes in my size.

  42. Every time I get a hole in one of my handknit socks I go into an anti-sock jag and knit sweaters, lace ANYTHING but the infernal hole-developing socks.
    Then of course fall and winter show up and all I want is more socks. Which explains why I have a few different pairs in various stages of progress right now. 🙂

  43. My feet are bigger than anyone else’s in my family, except my husband. So, I knit girly socks in my size and I get to keep them since my husband won’t wear girly socks.

  44. I have a similar problem. I have knit countless pairs of socks, but I own only one pair of them and they do not fit me right. I wear boring old white store-bought socks, but the people that surround me all are well clad in knitted footwear. It is a labor of love and maybe someday I will knit myself a few pairs… we’ll see. I would really love some. =)

  45. I almost only knit socks….they make me feel like a genius! I cannot wear wool socks; I am allergic. I can knit with wool but cannot wear it. All of my socks are for others. Do you want me to make you a couple of pairs, Steph?

  46. I’ve given away all of the pairs I’ve knitted so far. In fact, one of my knitting friends knit socks for me for our 1 year knitiversary, and it was the first time I’d worn handknit socks. I rarely took them off for a whole week. I’m now knitting a pair for myself, in addition to a christmas pair for mom, and a pair as a secret santa present. Good thing I’m not a monogamous knitter.

  47. I had to start knitting socks, because my sock knitting mom was keeping all her socks for herself… and now I knit socks only for myself, not anybody else.
    Nutkin is a cute pattern, but be aware, it does twist a little when it’s on your foot. But it’s so cute, I say knit it anyway (I did)

  48. Steph, seems as though we are on the same page..only I have the tendency, to give away my socks to friends..I am now knitting up a storm, so to have some new ones..I have an order for ski hats from grandkids, who are skiers…

  49. Woot, love the Nutkin pattern.
    Two pairs of socks for me, two for DH – strangely I have a lot more sock wool stash than I do knitted socks. I blog frequent got me on to knitting socks and I am a convert (does this sound like you?). Advantage of being portable, product manufactured for time spent, and wild colours to indulge a dull life, “like crack for the middle-aged” (similarly addictive and expensive).
    My sister looks a little ‘wild-eyed’ when I suggest handknitted socks (this baffles fellow knitters at knitting group), perhaps it is a good thing she doesn’t know how delightful they are to wear.

  50. A situation arises now and again where my mom is in need of a pair of socks and inevitably I end up giving her a pair I had knit for myself.

  51. Shoemakers Syndrome would be if your children didn’t have socks – and I bet they do 🙂 Enjoy your new socks, you deserve them

  52. I don’t knit things for me, really. I tend to knit for me, but I also don’t have as much time to knit things (college is soul-sucking sometimes).

  53. Oddly enough my sock knitting is probably the one place where I feel utterly guiltless with regards to knitting for myself. I have about 23 pairs that I’ve knit for myself since becoming a sock knitter a few years ago, and have 2 pairs that a friend made for me. I’ve knit some for my kids, and I’ve knit up about another 15-20 pairs that have been given away to family…but for the most part my sock yarn stash and sock knitting is all mine.
    Lace tends to be another self-indulgent sort of project.
    Other knits, well, some of those I feel a little guilty about, like working on a sweater for myself when it’s getting colder and my kids want new hats for the winter and Christmas is approaching…

  54. Um…yeah. I knit six or seven pairs of socks before I ever thought that maybe I wanted a pair. Four years and many more socks later, I have only three that are mine. Everything else has been gifted away. Whoopsie.
    The pair I’m knitting right now? (hopefully I can keep them) In the same Dream in Color Starry “Chinatown Apple”! I’m knitting “Outside In” from this summer’s Knitty.

  55. my 30for30 preemie charity project was semi-sidetracked when i realized i didn’t have enough non-hole/can-be-darned socks to make it through a week. i’m embarrassed about it, but finishing up a pair now and will not let myself cast on the next pair until i finish some more hats. it’s hard to keep them and then i wonder why i’m always cold… *sigh*

  56. I keep getting orders for socks from non-knitting family. I just smile and wave. I’m a slow knitter so by the time I’ve finished a pair, I’ve bonded with those socks in a deep and meaningful way. How can I be give them away to what may or may not be a good and loving home?
    Having said that, I’m a new sock knitter. I have knit 2 and 3/4 pair to date; 2 pair live in my sock drawer and the 3/4 pair are on the needles for hubby as we speak. Perhaps hand knit socks will someday lose their charm and I will merrily give away every pair I knit. Today is not that day.

  57. I rarely knit anything for myself, so I always end up feeling pathetic when someone sees something and says “oh did you make that” and usually the answer is no.
    I meant to knit more for myself this year. So far I’ve made myself a cowl and a hat. That’s it. I’m half way through a pair of socks and a pair of mitts but now it’s time for holiday knitting and my mom has asked for a specific gift and my brother is getting an afghan.
    *sigh* Maybe back to knitting for me on the 26th.

  58. you are so kind! i keep all socks i knit, in part because i am so slow and in part because there are 2 of them, and that is 1 more than i am willing to part with. nutkin is fab, and very similar to tadpoles, which i recently “whipped up” (STR medium weight). i would suggest, though, that you knit an error into them so you will not be able to give them away, even though they will be admired far and wide. now, i must get back to my jaywalkers. sock 1 is nearly done, and sock 2 is… not.

  59. My friends have knit me socks. I knit socks for my family. I have managed to knit and keep 2 pair of socks for myself. Maybe I need to start knitting those socks in a dark corner where no one sees them but me.

  60. *sigh* I’m knitting nothing than socks on my 2hrs-one-way commute daily and I churn out 1,3 pairs per week – I’m owning just 10 pairs (old, at least 6 yrs) for myself….
    Do I need to say more? 😉

  61. I (mostly) keep my socks. I’ll crank out hats and scarves all day long for other people, but handknit socks belong on the feet of people who will truly appreciate them–so far that’s my husband, myself, and one friend who really *gets* what all the knitting means. (Hi, Yolanda!) There’s just something about socks, you know? They’re magic.

  62. I do have quite a few pairs of handknit socks,and I’ve made a lot for friends as well, some I’ve knit up on needles and some I whipped up on my Legare sock knitting machine. When I first got the machine, I made myself quite a few pairs, so I have a similar problem as you. A lot of them are getting thin in the heel and sole area, but I love them and I just can’t part with them. I’d rather wear them with holes than throw them away. My mom gave me my grandmother’s darning “egg” so I guess I should get it out and use it to fix my socks. We are such a throw-away society, aren’t we?

  63. I just finished a nice pair of monkey socks and gave them to a friend who is having surgery soon and will need warm feet…I however go to bed each night with cold feet wondering how long it would take me to whip out a pair of nice warm socks…this getting old really sucks…I have never worn socks as a rule…but rethinking that these days…

  64. Are you sure you want to use a pattern named for a *squirrel*?
    I have knit 3 pairs of aran weight socks, given them all away, but I have half a pair of fingering weight for me, I’ll do the second one sometime (Cut Your Teeth with a navy body, and “peacock” cuff, heel & toe).

  65. I own precisely two pairs of socks: the first lace-ish pair I ever knit and a pair I knit under orders (for helping at Periwinkle Sheep during SS09 Karin sent me a skein and suggested that I knit myself a pair of socks so I did). All other output of all sorts is elsewhere. For a long time I *couldn’t* knit for me–it just didn’t feel right. Someday I’ll knit myself a sweater–all the ones I’ve made so far are on others.
    Thanks for nutkin, by the way–although I might mirror the pattern columns.

  66. Not to discount Nutkin – it really is lvely – be advised it’s a little twisty once you get it on your foot. At least that’s waht I found, ymmv.
    I love that you gifted your mom.

  67. The very first pair of socks that I made cuff-down from your recipe were intended to be for me. Unfortunately, in my own arrogance, I decided that I didn’t need to decrease the toe down as far as the recipe said to, so the socks were just a little too short for me, but they fit my daughter just fine. At least she loves them and wears them and didn’t toss them in the back of her closet never to see the light of day again.

  68. I’d have plenty if I tackled the darning pile. It would take me about half an hour to sort it out but I keep on putting it off because it’s not as much fun as knitting a new pair.

  69. I made my daughter a pair in the Chinatown Apple colorway in Chrissy Gardner’s leaf pattern (Interweave Knits?) and it was fabulous. Since she clearly doesn’t appreciate them as much as I do, does that mean I can steal them back? Happy knitting,
    Jill

  70. Harlot darns socks? But, I thought you looked at them and said darn and then threw them out.
    My world she has been rocked.
    I need to go have a little lie down now.

  71. wow..I am almost tempted to knit you a pair of socks but then I remembered that I’m a very selfish knitter, knitting almost everything for myself, and on top of that, I put my finished knits into a box rather than wear them so that someday I can organize all of it in still perfect condition into outfits and have a sortof Christmas bonanza moment. My knitting hope chest.
    Does anyone else do this I wonder?

  72. I gave my first pair of hand knit socks to my best friend. My second pair I gave to my husband. My third pair I gave to dear friend. My fourth pair I kept for myself. I’m now knitting my fifth pair. They’re the best socks I’ve ever knit. I’m so proud of them, I get all squidgy inside when I look at them (Cookie A – Eunice Socks). I’m keeping them for myself. I swear.

  73. Another advantage of having guys in the house is that I do get to keep my socks. My husband has hinted strongly that he thinks a handknit pair are in order…but I have seen what he does to that $1/pair from Wal-Mart! He has been known to kipe my Thorlos (explain to me how a man with a size 13 foot can be comfortable in his wife’s socks that are not even ladies 9’s? Him of the sensitive feet!)

  74. Lol Steph, I went to the product description and had to giggle – the yarn is made from 100% Australian merino wool, yet I can’t purchase this yarn here in Australia 🙂 To buy the yarn made from wool that comes from my country (for all I know, it could come from near where I live, we have a lot of sheep farmers here!!!), I’d have to get it shipped from the other side of the world!!! It is rather gorgeous, my sister is about to move to (somewhere in!) Canada, I might have to add it to the list I have for her to look out for in her travels.

  75. Now just a “gorram” picking minute… wasn’t it you that said that the only way to darn a sock is to stand over the bin and say “Darn it” as you drop the sock in the bin????

  76. My orange-y Dream in Color socks are my very favorite. Worth keeping! But I do the same exact thing. I slaved over a pair of Monkeys (I usually make pretty plain socks), my mom admired them, and I just couldn’t keep them! But at least she’s a knitter, so she will totally appreciate the work that went into them. Now I just have to keep it a secret till Christmas.

  77. I have no socks, hand knit or otherwise. My eldest son has the same sized feet as I do. Even the pink and purple socks I thought would be mine became his. He wants a hat to match for skiing. That’s ok, I’m stealing his boots.

  78. My sock drawer is in a similar state, yet the socks I’m currently knitting are for my hubby. I clearly need more sock knitting time. Or elves. One of the two for sure!

  79. Are you on your (imposed) Christmas Knit schedule yet or is there still time to make room for yourself? Because you deserve it, really!

  80. I have just about the smallest feet on the planet – seriously, just 7 1/2 inches long – the same size as your average 8 year old.
    When I knit socks for me, they fit only me (and the odd cute 8 year old).
    BUT when I knit a yummy pair for anyone else I can’t snaffle them …
    Win some lose some!
    Love the colour of the wrestled yarn BTW, gorgeous!

  81. I have 1, yes 1 pair. Everytime I knit a sock in the presence of the hubby or sister it is a fight who is the first to go “MINE”, one day I think I will just do a sneaky pair, somehow…

  82. I loved the Nutkin pattern, but mine twisted. Then I saw on Ravelry that some pairs twisted and some people actually had made the pattern without getting the twist. The mystery apparently lies in how you pick up the fold over cuff. Lots of posts about it. Google them before you knit so you can make an informed choice on to twist or not to twist your Nutkins.

  83. I have never managed to keep a pair of hand knit socks for myself which is TERRIBLE! I give them all to my mom and sister. I need to stop that!

  84. I have the exact opposite problem. My sock drawer is full to brimming, and half of them have never been worn. I LOVE knitting socks, but all my friends think hand knit socks are really weird, and I think they are even worried that I might (gasp!) give them a pair and then what would they do? They might have to wear them, and why would do that when have a drawer full of perfectly good 12prs-for-$3.00-socks that they got at Walmart or Costco or something. I know, I need new friends. Would you like me to send you a pair of handknit socks? I really wouldn’t mind. except the ones knit from own handspun, sorry you can’t have those, but the rest are your’s for the asking!

  85. I am working on the 25th pair or maybe the 26th pair for me. What makes it really out of hand is that I winter in Florida. I wish I could give away slightly used socks but that’s a tough one.

  86. I have well upwards of 50 pairs — and ALL of them are in the wash.
    The most gratifying socks I’ve ever knit were the pairs a friend wore while undergoing radiation treatments. Socks seem like such a small thing, but there was a ton of love in them.

  87. Of the last 5 pairs I’ve made, only one has been for me. And they aren’t done yet, because… I’m in the middle of a pair of socks for mom, gloves for my sister, a shrug for my other sister, with a hat and gloves waiting around to get started for my brother, while I finished a shawl for my grandmother-in-law…. I literally have no knitted items for myself. I had one pair of my own socks once… but that was my first pair, they were 100% wool, and my first time knitting with 100% wool. You guessed it… they are now well felted kids socks. 🙂
    I have decided that after christmas I’m only knitting for me for a couple months to catch up… but the birthday’s start in february… maybe one day I’ll own a sweater I made myself and a couple pairs of socks… seriously… that’s all I ask. 🙂

  88. Having a small family is good (in this case) as I knit socks and get to wear said socks. I’m adding Nutkin to the project list, even if the name brings squirrels to mind.

  89. You would never know that I am a knitter by looking through my dresser. I have one sweater out of at least 100 made over the last 20 years or so and 1 pair of socks.
    If someone admires something I have knit, I usually give it to them. Sometimes I love knitting something but by the time it is done I have had loads of enjoyment of the yarn and pattern and I am happy to pass the joy along. Still, every now and then, it would be nice to have something handknit to wear.
    I do keep many of the mittens I knit. I have a soft spot for my handknit mittens and have a hard time giving them away.
    I really want some socks…… maybe I should make a rule and keep one pair for every four I give away.

  90. maybe i’ll finish that second sock, on my first pair. *sigh*
    i think making sock for my big man feet makes me not like sock knitting.

  91. I knit socks for myself. Lots of them. And I NEVER WEAR THEM.
    I have them arranged in colour family piles in my sock drawer, all folded up neat-like.
    WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

  92. Recently washing the contents of my “sock drawer” and can count 5 pairs in fairly good condition and 1 pair that I accidentally felted. I’ve knit several more pairs in recent years and given them away which gives me some satisfaction. I think there is not enough time in the day.

  93. Hello
    I have knit 13 pairs so far plus one is on my needles. I gave away 5 pairs. If people don’t ask me for one, I don’t knit them a pair of sock. I want to be sure that they will appreciate the gift.

  94. Nutkins is a great pattern, I’m just finishing a pair right now. There is something one is supposed to know about a yarn over after a purl but I like the little hole!

  95. I just took inventory of my own drawer a couple of weeks ago and discovered I have about 25 pairs, a sufficient enough quantity that the new pairs I’m making this fall are going to other people. In fact, I just whipped up a pair while in Michigan visiting my mother, who had just gone through a hip replacement following a fall. She commented as I finished the second one that they were “so pretty,” and there she sat, in her chair with her mending hip, looking at me with puppy dog eyes, so that pair has gone to her. Another pair to my brother with the size 13 feet (who has feet 11 inches in circumference? Doesn’t that seem wrong?), a pair to my SIL who had the sense to have size 6 feet, and a dear, dear friend earned herself a pair of Devon socks from Cookie A’s book for being awesome. And now my 12-year-old is scoring a pair of Lissajous knee socks (a pattern not for the faint of heart). So while I used to make one pair of socks destined for someone else for every six or seven pairs for me, for the time being, that ratio has been reversed.

  96. I’ve knit many a pair and yet own none of my own… I think I need to remedy that after the Christmas knitting is done.

  97. Socks for myself usually come from one of two scenarios, the yarn was a gift or I knit them too small. Fortunately I’m the only one with small feet so small socks go to me!!!
    However, my best friend and I have managed to work it out where we knit socks for each other, which gets it so you feel like you are knitting for someone else, but also get your own socks. As a result, I have a pretty good supply of handknit socks right now. 🙂

  98. Presently working on my first pair of socks…seems like they are taking forever.We will see if they fit me….

  99. i do a fair amount of sock knitting for others, but i manage to knit some for myself too. i have about 8 pairs in my sock drawer, some plain and some fancy. the last pair i knit myself were nutkins, but i made the socks to be bilaterally symetrical. most of the sock knitting i do is for my husband.

  100. I have a relatively long commute, so I do a lot of sock knitting. I also spin on the train, but that doesn’t work so well when it’s too crowded to drop the spindle anywhere without having to fish it out of other commuters’ clothes and bags, but that’s a different issue and not relevant here.
    Most of my socks are for me. But I send a fair number to my sister, who is the most appreciative non-knitter one could wish for. They also go to my mother, my father, and my in-laws. Nothing to keep the love in a family like hand-knit socks.

  101. My sock drawer is similar. Very dire situation. Unfortunately, I knit slower and less prolifically than you do.

  102. I love the petroglyph colourway – so pretty (luckyharlot Momma!).
    I have about 8 pair of handknit socks I knit for me (most are ones I started for someone else, and made a goof and was too lazy to rip back and fix, so they became my misfits!). My husband has 5 pairs, and my mom and MIL each have 2 pairs (with a pair each going to them for Christmas).
    I always get asked by people if I will knit them a pair – and these people have no idea the time, energy, caring and cost associated … and I always say “I only knit for those I love … I like you a lot, but … ” and if they aen’t family or a dear friend … nada!
    ** on a side note, my secretary at work had heard me say this a lot to people at the office, and last year for Christmas when she opened her handknit socks, she was a little teary saying thanks knowing she had made it into the “loved” list!

  103. When I knit my first pair of socks, I was so excited to put them on my feet. Then my feet started itching a little, but I ignored it. Then they started burning slightly, which I also ignored. Then they felt like they were on fire, which is really hard to ignore. I found out that I was allergic to wool (I should have know this by how itchy wool hats and scarfs make me), and my socks became my mother’s socks. She loves them, so not all was lost…

  104. I’ll bite. I really love handknit socks and love it when people give them to me.
    When should I expect yours? 😉

  105. I don’t consider myself a sock knitter, but the few pairs I do knit for myself are safe from predation by friends and relatives by virtue of being too large for the women and too girly for the men. 😀
    Of course when you’re knitting for a US women’s 13EEEE foot you don’t really consider socks a small project, after all you have to make TWO.

  106. Ooo, I have some of that yarn in a red–I love it! I bought 2 skeins to weave a scarf, but I’m thinking I may have to take 1 skein and make some socks. It’s so pretty, I just like to sit and admire it like fine art.
    I’ve completed 6 pairs of socks since June–unemployment and a really good sock yarn stash can help that along quite nicely. I’m back to work now, but I’m still going strong and hope to have at least another 3 pair finished by Christmas–all for me, of course (I get really cold feet in the winter). It doesn’t help that I’m probably the world’s slowest knitter, but at least I have my own standard sock recipe memorized and don’t have to follow a pattern, which would really mess me up.
    Happy socking! :<)

  107. Knitter, clothe thyself!
    I have a lot of pretty sock yarn that I purchased thinking “This is going to be socks for ME!”. You’ll notice I said I have a lot of pretty yarn, not a lot of pretty socks…

  108. I seem to fall in with a lot of the others. I have made oodles of socks over the years, and only have …three pair for me. One pair of Lionbrand Wool I made too big so I washed them so they shrank just enough for me to use as “house socks”.. the other two are for my hiking boots. Love your yarn, enjoy!
    you can see my other projects on ravelry. (desertflower66)

  109. My sock drawer is pretty full to the gills right about now – but I did go on a sock-knitting rampage a while back so I’m anticipating they will all wear out at the same time as yours have. No problem though – the sock yarn stash is doing quite lovely still.
    I’ve never given actual socks away to someone I did not live with at the time. Slippers yes, but the glory and two-week process that is a 8-stitches-to-the-inch sock – no. I must be selfish, but I’m OK with that.

  110. One of the nicest things about living alone is that I also do most of my knitting alone, so there’s no one to claim a project in process and no one to steal my socks from the sock drawer.
    Nutkin’s a fun pattern, but I found I had to add three or four stitches to each repeat to get it to come out big enough to get on. I don’t think it was very stretchy.

  111. I think it’s admirable to knit socks for other people, although it helps when you KNOW they’ll care properly for them. I made a pair a month last year (some for me, some as gifts) and I burned out. I guess I’m more comfortably a sweater knitter.

  112. Ah yes, I generally only have 3-4 pair of my own hand-knit socks – and have to resort to commercial socks (oh, the shame)because I tend to give away the ones I knit. Or I wear them so much that they wear out far too fast! Sigh! Gotta get that fixed!

  113. All my best stained glass hangs in other people’s windows. Ditto for my paper tole pictures and well, you get the idea. I have yet to make a pair of socks, but there’s many a neck warmer than mine with a scarf I made for them last Christmas. I’ve started some big projects “just for me” but then the “perfect gift” for so and so comes across my path and there I go again. But I WILL finish our living room afghan and I WILL knit another sweater just for me and I WILL have scarves for every day of the week — right after Christmas!
    Of course your mom needed those socks — and hey, they weren’t even your colors.

  114. OMG I so know what you mean. I have 4 pair for myself and have purchased many more skeins of sock yarn for myself. Trouble is, I just spent and exorbitant amount of time on socks for my hubby. Now I am working on a pair for my mom. Daughters still want more (they already have a pair each), bff wants a pair. As I sit knitting socks up for everyone else, I longingly look at the yarn I have picked out for myself….

  115. Oddly, socks are about the only thing I manage to keep much of. I have yet to finish a sweater for myself. I have one waiting for a zipper… that’s as close as I’ve gotten. But the sock drawer… it is full. Well, pretty full. I can get a few more in…

  116. While checking out after my annual visit with the allergy doc (with whom I’ve had a working relationship for 20+ years …he keeps the pneumonia away), his office staff gathered around to take a look at my latest project– a sock in progress. After the oohs n’ ahhs from gals who are like family to me and a mini-lesson on the architecture of turning a heel, the first question was “who is it for?”, and when I replied my teenage niece, someone exclaimed, “I could never give it away after all that work!”
    Funny thing, I hadn’t even considered NOT giving the socks that I had made. You mean I can keep them!?!

  117. the first pair I knit for my husband, I didn’t know if he would like them. He wears sandle a lot. now he wants a pair in every color. he has green and red. I also made a pair for one of my roommates, he wears them almost every week

  118. I have knit to pairs of sock, period. The first pair has a hole in the heal. The second does not.
    I am acheing to knit myself a sock drawer lke Cauchy’s (see url.)

  119. Just out of curiosity how do you darn your holes? Is there a method you prefer over another and can you (will you) show some pics of the after. I darned my first pair and it’s an interesting cross hatch that i used but it works!

  120. I have at least 60 pair in my sock drawers at all times (about 2/3 for cold weather, the rest are cotton or bamboo). I knit for others on occasion, but mostly for myself when it comes to socks. My 21 year old daughter at University of Rochester (across the great lake from you) asked for hand knit socks and scarves once ensconced in the cold weather. She rejects any socks that are sport weight or heavier and about half of the scarves (too funky or otherwise unhip). I figure it is a carry-over from her teen years.
    My mother, who has always been quick to criticize everything I knit her (e.g., the shawl in her favorite green (she complained of being cold when at her desk) was a “jab” that I thought she was an old lady — she was 72 at the time), has decided that she loves hand-knit socks. Given the emotional toll gift giving has wrought over the years, I decided to give her a “how to knit socks” kit for mother’s day this year (along with another pair of socks), and have followed up with sock yarn for her birthday. Dad says thanks because it keeps her busy enough to give him some private time ;). Mom is happier than with anything I have made her in the past 20 years.
    I love your socks. Go knit yourself another pair (and hide them from your mom).
    I also can’t resist gifting handknits to those who appreciate them (like my father-in-law and sister-in-law).
    Jamie (in California’s Bay Area)

  121. I own five handknit socks. One made from yarn Rachel sent me many years ago, two in C220 (Seabury socks, knit flat and seamed) and two in something by Sweet Georgia, knit for me by a friend in England. That’s it. I should likely be embarrassed by this but I’m too damned sick to care right now. I do like those socks you made, though. Very much.

  122. Ah yes… I have a grand total of two pairs of handknitted socks, and the “me” sweater is still yarn in a basket while Christmas knitting marches on.

  123. i knit for me. I used to knit for other people years ago, and too many people didn’t appreciate what I gave them. Besides, it’s cold out, and I don’t have nearly as much time to knit as I’d like. I need to make myself more woolies!

  124. i cannot bear to toss them, so they get darned repeatedly (or they live in the darning basket while they wait.)
    Lovely pattern (Nutkin).
    You deserve some new socks of your own.

  125. Amen sister! I was just doing a sock count last night! I know my dear hubster has nearly twice what I have (and my dear preschooler has less than half – I was feeling a little selfish until I remembered that a year ago she scorned the handknit socks and it’s just recently that she adores anything from my needles). It is hard to begrudge them when they love what you do so much. How many people beg (yep, he begs) for something you make? But December knitting is for me (and maybe for them too. But for me too!)

  126. I don’t knit socks, (shock, horror) but all the women among my family and friends carry beautiful hand-knit and felted bags, courtesy of me, and I carry my stuff in one of those reusable supermarket bags.
    Occasionally adding to your personal sockpile (possibly after Christmas) sounds like a great idea!

  127. Here’s what gets me: you are also a sock knitter with a darned lot (ha!) of sock knitting friends; where are all the socks that were gifted to you? Law of averages says there must be some somewhere; you can’t possibly not have one single pair from a good friend, with as many as you give away. I’d knit you a pair just for letting me be a geeky fan girl.
    There’s something awesome about the idea of wearing silver in your shoes. I hope you enjoy.

  128. I’m so pumped to find out that there’s a pattern called “Nutkin!” It’s been my screen name for years due to a love of Beatrix Potter.
    As of yet, I can barely knit and have never tried socks, but when I make my first pair for me (attempting a pair for my Dad for Christmas), maybe I’ll get brave and try this pattern!

  129. I have finished three pair of socks. Being as I knit at plowhorse speed compared to the dear Harlotta’s warp speed three is ok….I have one pair that are mine, one pair given to my wonderful Dad last year for Christmas and my FIRST pair…of which we do not speak too much lest there be a death in the family. My son’s. They were STR Jailhouse Rock …came out damn well for a first pair. They matched. They also didn’t fit me (sz7 ladies) but they fit him (sz10 mens). He liked them . He asked if he could HAVE them. THEN HE LOST THEM.????????

  130. I feel very sad if your beautiful Viper socks are dead already. Also, your jupiter socks were pretty nice. I hope you can give yourself a little sock love before holiday knitting.

  131. Wrong approach! You need to make the most dowdy, plain, unenviable pair of socks you can imagine. That way no one will admire them and risk possibly making you feel guilty about keeping them for yourself! 😉

  132. I knit the Nutkins for my husband but reversed every second panel–no twisting, not super-stretchy, but very cool-looking! I didn’t think I could sell him on the name, though, so I made a leap off of the “Pirate King” colourway they were made in (Knitpicks) and called them Krakensox–THAT was manly enough to be very acceptable! Marketing, it’s all in the marketing… =)

  133. Considering that I live in Sudbury, I find it strange confessing that I only KNIT socks; I do NOT wear them. Even this evening I was still wearing sandals outside, much to my middle son’s dismay. However, I LOVE sock yarn and buy it every chance I get and then use it for other things. You beat me to the Chinatown Apple colourway, but I did get the Dream In Colour Starry in Midnight Derby. When I’m in Toronto on the 14th and 28th, I’ll probably pick up some more if Megan at Lettuce Knit has any left. Cheers and red wine, Hazel.

  134. Generally I don’t have a lot of trouble hanging onto my handknits, but then I’m not the same size as any one else in the family. As far as the socks go, only my youngest sister has really expressed an interest in receiving some. To the point that she is trying to recruit my friends into guilting me into making her a pair. She really only wants my generic recipe (oh so boring to knit). My game plan is to get my Passap working correctly and knit generic socks in skinny yarns on it. Quick enough to keep from getting bored.

  135. Hah! My family hates handmade gifts. I keep all my socks, unless they are thick, and then I send them to afghans for Afghans or Children in Common. I used to knit for my kids when they were little, but they are both firmly in the hooded sweatshirt phase, as well as the losing everything they touch phase, so I am done knitting for them. I keep promising my husband a sweater, but I won’t be able to stand it if he doesn’t like it, so I haven’t made it yet. Too much pressure.

  136. No, I don’t have many at all…2 pairs! I keep giving them to my kids or other people as gifts. This is doubly painful, as I’m not the speediest knitter. In fact, I don’t have many hand knit items to call my own and tend to ferociously protect the little bit I’ve kept.
    Oh…and I agree with your family/travel theory. They’re wigging out within hours of your arrival. Ask me how I know.

  137. I don’t knit socks, but you’d never know from my collection of sock yarn. To be fair, I’ve tried. Lots. And every time I try, I assume I’ll need lots of pretty sock yarn to keep my interest, and it hasn’t worked yet.
    … All this is to say, I love the yarn you’ve picked, Chinatown Apple is a colour I’ve admired from afar, and it’s much better off in your hands. Make sure these socks stay yours. 🙂

  138. Yeah, my sock drawer is pretty thin, too. Everybody gets socks before me. And still my husband whines everytime I’m knitting a pair of socks that isn’t for HIM. What can I say……knitters love to spoil the men in their lives.

  139. Hmmmmm…I’ve been knitting (and crocheting) for more years than I care to count. Would you believe I am making the very FIRST thing EVER for myself right now? Nothing has stayed in my drawer/closet/blanket chest/etc. So I decided to make myself a shawl…after all, I’M WORTH IT!!!

  140. I knit a lot of socks and what I enjoy is giving them to someone who doesn’t expect to get a pair or doesn’t even know that I knit.
    The look on their face is priceless.
    The next thing is to wait and see if they ask for more…if they don’t, then they are not Sock Sentient Beings ( they just didn’t get how wonderful they are). Those who do and ask for another pair…get more.
    My own drawer is a mix of socks that are intact and wearable and some that now need darning from last winter’s use. They are old friends and need some TLC.
    Hope your drawer is replenished soon. I gave away Starry to a friend for her birthday. It was hard, very hard to do, but I did it.

  141. I usually find a pattern that I like for me, plan to buy the yarn, but not spend the money. And when I finally do, and make the thing, it becomes someone’s gift. A few years ago, a family member fell in love with the test knit my mom was wearing, and hired me to knit 5 of them. By the time I filled the order, I couldn’t bear to make or own one.

  142. Oooh, nice socks! I’m a really slow knitter so there’s no way I could churn out as many projects as you do. This is a big problem because I love to knit things to give to people, so I don’t have a lot of projects to show for all my time spent knitting. Fortunately for me I have a friend who is a very speedy knitter and she gives me really lovely, beautifully made socks every so often. If you have a catastrophe, she almost always has a pair of socks to give you to help make you feel better, and it definitely helps. (She’s almost as fast as you are, but you are still the Ultimate Speed Queen. I don’t know how you do it! My friends and I think you must only sleep an hour a night.) I end up making socks and things for others so most things go to other homes except for what I make for my family. I love Dream in Color yarns, and have that colorway in my stash. Pictures just don’t do it justice. The Nutkin sock is a great pattern, but how about the Lothlorien pattern from Enchanted Sole. That yarn would make it look like a fall forest. Have fun looking at patterns and knitting your new socks!

  143. I don’t have trouble keeping things I’ve knit for myself, but I have an awful lot of trouble finishing things I’m knitting for myself because knits to do for other people so often seem to interrupt and take precedence.
    I’m gonna hide behind a tree while I say this, but I have never knit a pair of socks, even though I own a little bit of (very nice) sock yarn. I tried, failed when it came to the toe, and never attempted it again. I know, I know.

  144. I have the smallest feet in the family, now, no one can believe that the socks they are admiring fit me. SO I keep most of them! They only admire the fact that I can knit socks at all (considered too geeky, I guess, I don’t have much of a feminist streak!) but don’t ask for them. I have knit socks for 2 of my 3 daughters (the 3rd can knit her own if she wants to), my husband and my mom but I am not that sure any of them really wanted them so I guess I will keep knitting tiny socks and keeping them for myself… 😛

  145. Love the Nutkin pattern.
    I think my Mommy Police is in a union with my knitting project police. The KPP tell me it’s perfectly justifiable to knit this much if it’s for a loving gift, otherwise, knitting this often for me is just selfish. I need to figure out how to get rid of my inner KPP as I think my mommy police, even though they’re often wrong, are here to stay.
    Beautiful socks, though! Atleast you’ll know you’re gifting something that already has home in someone’s heart!

  146. Nutkin is a lovely pattern to knit. I reversed the pattern on the second sock, which wasn’t too hard.
    I loved giving my grandfather 2 pairs of knitted socks, but i’m a bit of a selfish knitter i admit – all that knitting for other people? they better REALLY appreciate it 🙂

  147. Only two pairs of my handknit socks in my drawer. All the rest are gone to other people. But this year I accomplished what has been impossible in my knitting life up till now – I knit a cardigan for myself! And then a vest! Both in the same year. I’ve been fighting the hungry-eyed, non-knitting friends and loved ones off them ever since. I hope it gets cold enough here for me to wear them soon. But lots of Christmas gift knitting left to do, so must knit on. Shawls and sweaters and socks, oh my.

  148. The trick here is to have small enough feet that no one else can wear your hand knit socks.
    There are not many benefits to being short (i.e. I often can’t buy shoes I like because they don’t make them small enough) but the fact that no one I know can wear my socks is a plus as otherwise I’d have given them all away too.

  149. That’s a good question! Actually, my sock drawer is filled with… 2 pairs! But both of my daughters have at least 6 or 7 pairs, so do my son, my husband, my mum, my dad, my sister, my best friend, etc…
    You’re right, I should knit more for myself.
    BTW, I love the Dream in Colour Starry. The colorway is great!

  150. I find myself wanting to promise socks to other people so that I forget I’ll need them all winter. Then October/November is “Put a foot through a sock” season, and I realize how few functional socks I really have. So my holiday knitting is usually curtailed by speed knitting socks for Me. I refuse to wear commercial socks! It’s a vanity thing.

  151. I did the same thing. I have my handknits for me (4 pair) and my knitting for other people (7 pair). But once I finish the Christmas knitting I’ll make more socks for me and my hunny.

  152. Last winter (before I went into a massive round of baby knitting, and interspersed with Christmas and birthday knitting) I knit myself 4 pair of socks. Since then I’ve knit 4 baby sweaters, 3 baby hats, 3 pair of baby socks, 3 pair of socks for my daughter, and one measly pair of socks for me. I’m currently working on my first pair of men’s socks (Christmas present for husband) on size 1 needles. I see a pair of baby socks, possibly another baby sweater, and various Christmas presents in the queue before there’s another pair of socks for me. However, at the moment last year’s socks are pretty much holding up (holes in only one pair). I’ve got lovely yarn to make myself a fancy pair with some kind of pattern (instead of just your standard sock recipe which I used for all the others), and it’s going to be the cheery stuff awaiting me during the gloomy post Christmas darkness.
    I’ve mostly knit for me in the past few years (other than the occasional sweater for my daughter) because my son and husband don’t really like hand knit sweaters, and sweaters was what I was knitting. However, knitting for my granddaughter and sock knitting have become addictive. The sock knitting is due to the great sock yarns that are suddenly available in my area. The granddaughter knitting is because frankly she looks so cute in hand knit stuff and her parents are effusive with appreciation. One of the really fun things is that there’s enough yarn in a 100 gm skein to knit matching socks for my gd and her mommy. So now they are sock buddies, and since their matching socks match socks I’ve made for myself within the last year, I’m their sock buddy too.

  153. When I learned to knit back in about 2002, I learned on socks. For a long time I only knit socks, I was perfectly content knitting socks. Everyone in my family had lovely socks. Then I decided I was ready for something bigger…so I knit us Christmas Stockings…still technically socks, I know. However they were a Scandinavian design, with intricate pattern reading and color changes…learned a lot! But now I wasn’t somehow satisfied knitting only socks, I needed more challenge! So, onto other knitting…still carry socks in my purse for on-the-go knitting, but the progress is much slower. My daughter’s feet have grown quite a bit since 2002 (4yo to 11yo), but thankfully my hubby, the contractor who will only wear cheap Walmart socks to work so as not to destroy his deliciously lovely handknit socks, his socks are still in pretty good shape considering he only wears them on weekends really. And me…well, I’ve only actually made me about 3 pair and I love them! Anyway…we could always use more, no?

  154. I can’t keep a pair of fingerless mitts. I keep a pair in my purse, and if someone says their hands are always cold, before I know it my hands are removing the mitts from the purse, handing them over to the cold-fingered friend, and saying, “here, try these on”. Of course they fit, so what can I do but give them away. I am currently mitt-less. Socks I keep, except if they are too small my daughter gets them. I knit small (age 2-4 or 4-8) children’s socks or mittens from the left-overs from the skeins for my grandchildren.

  155. My husband recently claimed a lace scarf and a pair of mittens that were intended for me. From now on, I shall only knit girly colours when it comes to making accessories for me, in order that I get some too.

  156. LOL…sooooo you know how to darn socks? My socks are still ok, but it’s only a matter of time. Did buy a darning egg, but have no idea how to fix a sock with a hole in it. If you have the time, (stop laughing, I know it’s a long shot)but could you explain how to darn a sock? Not one book I own explains how to.

  157. Ah yes. I said “This year, I knit for myself.” Then I heard, “Didn’t you say that LAST year?”. It’s good when friends keep you straight. My shawl is STILL not finished and I could use some new socks, too. les sighes.

  158. I have two sisters, a mom and a stepdaughter who all have feet similar in size and all love handknit socks. I can’t get halfway through a pair before someone says “ooooooo who are those for? Those shore are purdy, ma’am”
    who can resist that when somebody loves your knitting?

  159. I am the only knitter in my family, and in my circle of friends. None of these people “get” hand knit clothes; socks or otherwise. I’ve made them scarfs, hats, socks, sweaters, afghans and they sit in their drawers or on the closet floor, or in the case of the afghan, the dog was sleeping on it (nice dog, but I about died). So, I don’t knit for other people anymore. I’m not wasting my time on muggles.
    I have 87 pairs of hand made socks. I’m often late for work because I can’t decide which pair to wear. And I rejoice when they wear out cause then I have a reason to make more. Can’t be too careful; I might run out!

  160. I have to laugh at today’s entry. You see, I just pulled my socks out–don’t have much need for socks in summer in GA. I only have about half a dozen pairs of socks, since I’m a fairly new sock knitter. But my first two pairs needed darning…and as I darned them, I thought, “Stephanie Pearl McPhee must have drawers and drawers full of wonderful socks, and I’ll bet they’re not all darned and full of holes!” I kid you not–I just said this to myself yesterday!
    You make me feel better.

  161. Well, I’m a new sock knitter, so I have yet to have any for myself. But I rarely knit anything for myself. I took some time aside to knit “Fetching” for myself. I’m going to Portland in a week and the need for soft warm woolies is much more there then here in Virginia Beach. It’s nice to take a break a knit something just for me!

  162. I think I’m the opposite of Alena above – I give away a pair for every 3-4 I knit myself. I know the recipients love them, but I wonder whether they’ve developed holes. Mostly they are in the family, and my mom is a big crafter with mending skills too, but my knitting comes with an informal warranty – it can always be sent back for repairs. So far, nobody has sent them back…

  163. hee hee…. my sock drawer has like eight pairs of socks…of which only two don’t have holes! And I can’t seem to keep a single thing I make because I just ADORE making things for the people I love that appreciate them. (maybe I just have too many wool-appreciating people in my life?) maybe I need to work on that. :O)

  164. My mother will have socks for Christmas by the same method. I showed them off then she tried them on and admired them so fiercely that I was helpless.

  165. My sock drawer overflows! I have been at it for more than 15 years and in the beginning only knit for myself. Then, (finally!) others showed interest so I now have a recipient circle from which to choose. But, often I fall in love with a particular skein and definitely mark it for MOI! The others I knit for (DH, DD, special niece, granddaughters) are overjoyed when they get a pair. That yarn usually is purchased with the recipient in mind.

  166. I have exactly one pair. ONE pair. Very sad. Maybe after my Christmas knitting is done …

  167. I’m the same way- I’ve made ~8 pairs of knit socks in the past year and have 1 pair that I kept for myself! I’m knitting Nutkin right now for my sister in law- so far so good, it’s a really easy pattern to knit and looks great!

  168. I think I have about 15 pair. I believe 14 of them no longer fit since being pregnant seems to have done strange and rather frightening things to the size of my feet. I think I’ll be spending some time frogging and reknitting. *Or* washing and gifting?

  169. it’s that gosh darn knit-in-public thing, now that everyone knows that we knit, we’ve raised the bar. I had the same trouble with fingerless gloves, my son and daughter each have a pair, my SIL has a pair, I have sold two pairs, and several friends have a pair also. Do I have a pair? no. Why did I start knitting them? because I wanted a pair. I would have a pair if I didn’t keep LOSING the first one as I knit the second one.
    Somehow it’s easier for me to be selfish with socks. Probably an offshoot of how SLOWLY I knit.

  170. I’ve actually had pretty good luck at hanging on to my handknit socks…but that’s because I made several pairs for myself before I started giving them as gifts. Now my family- 5 out of 6 of whom wear the same size I do- have all expressed keen appreciation for handknit socks, and I’m knitting like the furies to try and keep up.
    And then last night my sister explained what she could really use for Christmas is heavy house socks (which will at least knit up fast, but means that the thin wool shoe-weight socks I have already knit her will be retasked). So instead of knitting two more pairs of socks before Christmas I’m suddenly looking at um, four. And finishing a pair of mitts, and knitting a whole sweater. Except that it’s only what, seven weeks, so that’s crazy. I either need to a) reprioritize my knitting or b) warp the space-time continuum.
    I like b) better.

  171. I’m dizzy from trying to separate the pathologies from the virtuous inclinations. Got quite a continuinuinuum here, as Pratchett would say.

  172. I mostly get to keep my socks, because they won’t fit my father–who keeps saying he wants more pairs. I keep threatening to knit him pink ones, because (as I tell him) the only “extra” yarn I have is pink. He actually said that was ok, so he must really want them.

  173. I own two pairs of socks I’ve made. The others have gone to my mom (2 pair) and to very appreciative friends. When they get that look in their eyes…how could I say no?
    But I’m noticing my feet are rather cold. Hmm.

  174. I have never, in my years of knitting, produced a single thing for myself. I once started a pair of socks for myself, and then got distracted by other, more pressing projects for other folks. Maybe this will be my challenge for these winter Olympics…

  175. Most of my knitted socks were for me. Then I gave a pair to my mom. She hints frequently for what the next color should be.
    btw… are there sparkles in that “for you” yarn? Hmmm. I have a ball of Kraemer Silk and Silver in Tuxedo that is calling my name, even though I bought it for socks for my aunt with the size 11 AAAA feet. (I have size 9 1/2 medium. I think it’s mine.)

  176. yep, pretty much. I don’t have any finished pairs which are mine to wear, they keep going to other ppls sock drawers. Great blog post as always.

  177. I own one thing that I’ve knit in the past year, and that is a scarf/shawl experiment that no one else would take. Someday, I hope to have many lovely things that I’ve made by myself, but I’m afraid I might have to knit in secret to make this happen.

  178. There is a conspiracy out there invoving sock patterns, folks. They are all designed to fit someone with average feet. I do not have average feet, however, measuring 24cm around my instep, forcing me to wear boy’s wide shoes. Not a huge problem, until you consider my mother does not consider fit for her socks, but that they are wool, and handknit; my son does not consider color, and he fits my socks and shoes; and my daughter, who has very small feet, a child’s US 12, has discovered the art of fulling, which involves wearing my socks while in the very hot bathtub. I own one hand knit sock, and that’s because it has no mate yet. It is all about being a good mother, and I would feel very bad if I had handknit socks, and my children had none. Plus, my mother used to wear 2pr. for a dollar flip flops in the winter to afford my winter boots, and it isn’t like I will stop knitting socks, so my chances of wining the sock lottery are the same odds.

  179. hmm. I seem to have just one pair of handknit socks in my drawer, and these are cotton, weird and yellow.

  180. I made Nutkin and discovered that no matter how hard I block them, the pattern twists. There is another version on Ravelry where the patterns have been reversed so they face each other and the socks don’t twist. I would make the modified pattern to make the socks more comfortable to wear. Enjoy!

  181. First, sorry about the multiple entries yesterday. I kept getting error messages and didn’t think it posted.
    I love knitting socks and knitting gifts so I have 3 pairs of brown socks I’ve knit for myself and one pair of beige my daughter returned to me. That may be 10% of my production. Happily they are of differing vintages. Just don’t ask what’s in my head, there are another 3-4 pairs in there (and they’re NOT brown, well, one of them is).

  182. I knit for myself. Contrary to recieved wisdom, I don’t feel bad about this. Although, I have knitted socks for my mum (‘cos I love her and she has permanently cold feet), and for a friend’s baby, I usually make a point of only knitting stuff for people who know how to knit and appreciated the work involved. I would knit socks for my darling (and if you saw the size of his feet you would know what an act of love that is) but he is a “hot-footed” person and will only wear cotton.

  183. ALL my socks are for me, and 98% of my other knitting as well. The only people I know who appreciate handknits are knitters themselves, and I give them gift certificates to their favorite yarn shops.

  184. I’m a selfish knitter (not really I do charity knitting daily) and have knit very few pair of socks for others. My sock drawer is not empty but hasn’t had much added to it lately because I’ve been knitting sweaters and shawls. My sock project I started several months ago is “riding” around in my Nantucket bag with about 12 rows done.

  185. I don’t own ANY of the socks I’ve knit. Actually, every time I knit anything and wear it, I end up giving it away, which I suppose isn’t such a bad thing, but it is a little sad. The problem I have is that usually, close friends and family ask to buy it and (since they’re close and all), I give knitting away when I know they would have been happy to give a little cash. I know this has come up before, but I still have no idea what an acceptable price would be. I feel guilty asking for money for something I would have kept myself.

  186. I have 2 1/2 pairs of my own socks (a STR Rocktober colorway, a blue and green ocean colored pair, and a blue and purple ‘Jaywalker’ with one finished and one one the needles (but I just turned the heel)). My daughters have handknit socks (ages 9 and 6) and I went through a felted clog phase where I gifted them all – except the green stripy ones I made for myself that my husband stole from me when they didn’t felt small enough. And I’m knitting 3 pair for Christmas – the ‘Prancing Pony’ socks for my 9 yr old, the spiral socks from the “Kid’s Knitting” book for my 6 yr old, and my husband gets a pair of worsted weight cotton/wool Ragg socks that he requested. Um, and I”m due to be an Auntie Dec. 30, so I might have to add a pair of booties to my list (I just haven’t decided yet).

  187. I am not a sock knitter in general, I’m more into sweaters. Of the 20 socks I have knitted, I have 3 in my drawer; one is the first pair I ever made and they are 2 different sizes, and the other 2 are shorties from the leftover yarn from other people’s socks. The biggest recipient of my sock labors is my husband, who wears them daily until they are just string. the fact that he loves them so much means that he will always be first in line when the sock making urge hits me.

  188. But Stephanie! What happens to the holey socks? Do you have to actually, um, throw them away? I can’t imagine doing such a thing! I would need someone to dispatch the socks when I was out of town and then never mention the socks again! I’m disturbed by the mental image of someone disposing of a hand knit sock- regardless of how many holes there happen to be in said sock.

  189. oh, good gad! I think I just bruised a rib! I’m still cackling. Thanks so much for that! 🙂

  190. Since I’m picky about the fit of my socks, my rule is that if they fit me, they’re mine, and if they’re too big, they’re my mother’s. The only problem with this approach is that my mother feels that all my handknit socks are fair game! Now my mother, who lives in Texas, probably has about twice as many pairs of handknit wool socks as I do– and I live in Pennsylvania.

  191. I have the same problem with lace. Just tell them that you had the plague while you were knitting; had sneezing and coughing and code brown while you were knitting. Ew!

  192. Oh dear. At last count, I had about 38 pairs…and that was a couple of years ago. I’ve made a lot more since then. But just so you don’t think I’m totally stingy with them, I also knit a several pairs for my husband each year, a couple for Mother’s Day and for Father’s Day, and some for random gifts. Seems like I always have some socks going. You definitely need more of your own, with those cold Canadian winters!

  193. Well, no, I have absolutely NO problem keeping all my handknits for me. I’m a member of the Selfish Knitters and Crocheters on Ravelry, and have learned to hoard the handknits for myself! I’ve got a drawerful of socks, and am making more at the moment, just for me. And no, I don’t feel bad about it, either.

  194. I started my second run of sock knitting in the mid 90’s, so my oldest socks are over 10 yrs old with no signs of wearing out yet, other than some pilling. Right now about two weeks worth are drying and about an equal number still in the sock drawer. Another pair on the needles and a couple of others awaiting CO from Sock Summit yarns. My family has not suffered from sock deprivation, but I admit I have the most. Love the fall when I can start wearing them again.

  195. All the socks that I knit my size I can keep to myself. I don’t know a single woman with my shoe size. I have quite big feet for a woman. I’m somewhere in between the european shoe sizes 41 and 42 – that would be about a 10,5 US women’s shoe size.
    I am currently knitting socks for other women though and they all have so nicely small feet the socks seem to get finished a lot faster than usual. 🙂 They are all in between european sizes 37 and 39 – that would be US women’s shoe sizes 6 and 8.

  196. I don’t own a single pair of handknit socks. And lately have been too sick to knit much. I am totally open to donations though!
    Smiling…Big Smiles here!

  197. I’ve managed to keep the last 3 (4) pair for myself, since they are “experiments” with knitting toe-up and they fit me perfectly. I don’t knit much for Christmas – too slow a knitter and too many people on the list.

  198. I own a surprisingly small number of workable socks considering how many pairs I’ve actually knit. I’ve lost whole pairs, mates to pairs, and my husband has felted two pairs. Now I’m rotating five pairs. Guess I need to make more.

  199. I have made 7 pairs of socks thus far, but I only have one pair to show for it. Works for me though, I love making them and don’t wear socks often!

  200. I was working on some socks while visiting my in-laws, and MIL asked for a pair. I asked her what colors she liked, “Those colors.”
    Hmmm, “Well, these are for me. See, I’ve made the first one to fit my size 9 left foot. Your little 5.5s won’t work. Do try it on though, so I can get a feel for sizing for you.”
    Coincidentally and ironically, it fit her perfectly. Seems she has a gynormous instep. Either that, or we need to start the Sisterhood of the Travelling Socks.
    And now they’re sitting in a box waiting to be wrapped for Christmas. I lose. On the upside, it’ll be very easy to size future socks for her!

  201. I knit myself a pair of knee socks ages ago, but they don’t stay up so have only been worn once or twice. Just last month, though, I finally knit myself a pair of anklets that I have been wearing pretty much every day. The thing about knitting socks for yourself is that THEY WEAR OUT. I know the other ones wear out, too, but I sort of just send them out into the world and then don’t have to think about it or deal with them. (At least not until my my tells me he “thinks he’s getting holes in them” and takes off his shoes to reveal the whole freakin’ sole missing.)
    I’m trying to do more, though, as I prefer anklets and have discovered that I can get a pair of socks for my mom (size 5.5) and a pair of anklets for me (size 6.5) out of your standard skein of sock yarn.

  202. The solution – find another knitter in a similar predicament and make socks fo reach other! My mum knits socks, is the queen of sock knitting and doesn’t wear socks or any kind ever. And yes, we live in the land of ice and snow. She knits my socks and I am free to give the ones I knit away.

  203. In a year, I might make about 10 pairs of socks, and by the end of the year, I’m always down to 2 or 3 pairs.
    In a house where just me, my son and the cat live (and the cat doesn’t wear socks (or eat them)), someone took my socks, wore them and made sure they never made it to the hamper where I possibly could wash and reclaim them.
    And when I ask him where the socks are, he tells me he doesn’t know what I’m talking about. I’m starting to think maybe I didn’t make socks after all …

  204. I have a drawer full, probably about 30 pairs. I have probably knit over 100 pair over the years, mostly given to family. My children and grandchildren routinely get a pair for Christmas every year, and sometimes for birthday. My husband and daughter-in-law are truly allergic to wool, so they get cotton ones less frequently.
    I discovered a similar problem in my sock drawer a couple of years ago, so socks for me have been more frequent. I don’t wear any other socks than mine, but I wear clogs, so they don’t wear at the heel, and I guess I have flat toenails. Mine seem to wear along the decreases at the toe , and along the heel flap pick-up. Both problems solved with toe-up construction and japanese short rows. Now they just eventually get thin all over.
    I haven’t been motivated to darn them, but I save them, and maybe someday I’ll make an afghan out off the cuffs…

  205. Gosh Steph, after all the socks we have seen fly thru your pages!!! Have you learned to be patient when it comes to heel, heel turn/gusset and toe decreases to use one needle size smaller? That should give you firmer, longer lasting socks. Keep on having fun.

  206. I have knit 12 pairs of socks over the summer..5 for Christmas gifts and 7 pairs for me. I am working on the 2nd sock of the next pair. They are washed and in my sock drawer…but they are too nice to wear? How stupid is that? If I wear them they will all wear out eventually…that is even dumber but I seem to have a mental block about putting them on my feet except to try them on. They are lovely and mostly in STR light/med weight….
    I guess I just need to “get a grip” here and put them on..my feet are cold all the time too..LOL

  207. Generally by the time I’ve finished knitting something I’m so sick of looking at it I’d like it to just GO. AWAY. I intend everything I knit to be for myself, but my fickle nature has fooled all my friends into thinking I’m actually really generous.

  208. I have knit Nutkin before and I love mine! I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock medium weight in the Farmhouse colorway and they are one of my favorite pairs of socks. 🙂 I have knit several pairs for myself in the past and just spent two days in October patching up some socks that so desperately needed it. So I understand your dilemma. I keep meaning to knit socks for myself but everyone else wants a pair or I start a project so large that knitting anything else seems like project suicide. I have decided that after Christmas knitting is done, I am making several pairs for myself.

  209. I have this minor problem that I’ve heard you also have – I can’t get gauge. I don’t swatch, and the socks come out too big or too small. The Best Socks Ever that were my pride and joy – fit my husband…..
    He has more socks than I do at this point.

  210. I am knitting Cinnamon Girl vs11 Dream in Color Starry yarn now in Nutkin pattern. It is lovely with this yarn!!!! Delightful to see you thinking of the same thing, lol.
    Firelily

  211. Maybe, just maybe it is time to think about holiday knitting after all Christmas is a mere 50 days away and Hanukkah is 36 days away. Time to get cranking or suffer the woes of the dreaded holiday deadline knitting.

  212. I’m awful at knitting for myself. I finish something and think… “Oh! Eric’s sister would LOVE this.”. And off it goes…

  213. I knit socks and they often end up going to others (I have 5 pairs of my ow, the rest have gone to others). I have knit some for my mom and dad (he wears them for naps, because he adores them and doesn’t want to wear them out by putting them in shoes….I keep telling him I can make more, but he doesn’t believe me), for my son (he calls them hugs for his feet, therefore he gets more even though he wears size 13 shoes), my other son, his girlfriend, my son’s roommate, who asked me so nicely, my sister and my husband. I think it is time to make a few more pairs for myself…one or two are also in the darned and have holes stage. I love that Nutkin pattern.

  214. I haven’t knit socks for myself in years! And all of my older ones are in states of repair so I don’t even have any to wear right now. Isn’t that shocking? Problem is, I have too many family members that love them and want them and ask for them all the time. That is all they want and all they wear. *sigh* Maybe this year I’ll get a pair?

  215. I’m still chuckling over “communal wave of disintegration”, but I only have one pair. I did have a healthy sock drawer at one time, but they have been gifted (and absconded with) over time. I hope all those OTHER feet out there are happy and warm. Today, I am wearing icky storebought socks, with holes, that don’t even match, and MY FEET ARE COLD. Because it was snowing here (SNOW!!) just north of Toronto.

  216. Someone is always stealing my socks. Or looking longingly at them whilst I knit. (Yes, I said whilst. I read a lot.) I seem to be missing the anti-googoo eyes shield.
    Yours look very nice. So does that yarn. Good luck keeping them!

  217. I recently went through my sock drawer and was amazed to count 40 pairs, plus two pairs on the needles (that does not count the many pairs I have given away). Can you say “obsessed???” I still have the first pair I ever made and wear them often.

  218. I’ve only been knitting socks for about 8 months now…but I’ve so far finished 5 pairs and am working on the 6th (as well as 3 scarfs and a pair of gloves) and not a single item was for me! I don’t own any of my own knitting!! What is up with that? I have a plan to knit myself some stuff after the Christmas presents are finished – LOL

  219. I have 25 pairs of handknit socks – made by my mother and late grandma. I have made one pair of socks for the knitterly intellectual exercise of it all. Would you like my mom to make you some? My sock drawer is full! Let me know and tell me your shoe size! She likes the self-striping yarn a lot and has a similar “generic” pattern to yours!

  220. It’s easy. Just tell them you have toe fungus and tried the socks on a lot while making them.

  221. I have committed the horrible crime of washing all but one pair of hand knit wool socks in a washing machine, and then drying them in the drier because I forget that the socks are stuck inside the legs of jeans when I throw the jeans in the wash. I have many, many pairs (or singletons) of laborously-knit FELTED socks that nobody can wear. 🙁

  222. I definitely bought a skein of the Starry myself last night when I was down at Lettuce Knit, I’m SO excited to knit it up.
    My own sock drawer is looking pretty nicely filled – but only because I have a mother who is allergic to wool, so she has a hard time stealing my socks.

  223. I have several socks for myself. I knit almost exclusively for myself, because I’ll know they fit me, and it’s a lot less stressful. I’m a pretty selfish sock knitter! That said, I generally give my mom a pair of socks for gift-giving holidays, and I owe my sister a pair of socks. She’s only gotten ONE PAIR! Every now and again, I”ll knit a pair of socks that I don’t really know why I’m knitting them, and then someone comes along who’s all “I LOVE that color!”, and then they get them, but usually only family/friends/loved ones. Not random strangers who say “Oh! are those for me?”

  224. I’m a sock piggy too, with fifteen pairs in my sock drawer and two more on the way, having gifted only four pairs of socks to date. I rationalize this in that I only learned to knit in this decade, and only learned to knit socks a couple of years ago. So the early fruits of this labor should be mine, right? I love that you have a handknitted sock drawer! I think that’s my new goal, to fill my sock drawer with handknitted socks so the other socks are forced to live in exile somewhere else.

  225. I don’t care if the machine knit Opal sock samples I bought at Stitches East for $8.95/pair aren’t hand knit. They’re still great!!!

  226. Wow! I finished a pair of socks in Chinatown Apple a couple of weeks ago. I planned to keep them for myself, but my Little Sis thought they were perfect for her. I’m a big fan of handpainted yarns and I have already given several pairs to her, which I thought she admired. That is until she said “I really like these socks better then your crazy colored socks.” I mean she complimented the new socks and dissed my previous offerings. I’ve decided not to be offended.

  227. Stephanie, please look away…
    This is a perfect combination, people! Just look at all of these comments from knitters who love to knit for others who appreciate handknits! Am I the only one seeing the perfect solution here? Stephanie has very few socks. We enjoy knitting for others. Surely her sock size is buried somewhere in the archives. I can’t be the only one wanting to see her get some nice socks-she gives a lot, folks.
    I’m off to search the archives.

  228. re: they have all worn out at once.
    You have discovered the sock version of what I call the The First Bra problem (assuming one wears bras). Your mom takes you out to get your first bra. She buys you several which you rotate. Then, they get older and … voila, they all wear out at about the same time. Then, for the rest of your life you always need not just one bra, but several….
    I like the petroglyph socks too. Cool name for the yarn. Lucky mom.

  229. I have Too Many handknitted socks for someone who lives in California. I think I have about 15-20 pairs and more are on the way 🙂 DH now has a pair for 6 days out of 7 and I’ve started giving them to my PiLs. And I have enough yarn for another 100 or so pairs. I blame visiting Germany and its cheap (but good) sock yarn. *blush*

  230. I have started 12 pairs of socks, completed 4, and own 1. I feel your pain. Although since I, for reasons unknown other than my personal bull-headedness, knit them on size 1 needles in aran weight yarn they are a knitter’s kevlar and will never wear out.

  231. There must be something in the air. I recently went through my sock drawer, which was once abundant and hole-less and realized that I’ve been cheating on my sock knitting with a ton of lace knitting. Must knit many socks soon.

  232. My feet are larger than my husbands. In spite of the fact that I ALWAYS have a pair working, I have NEVER made myself socks. Yup. Know how it goes…

  233. My handknit socks (all two pairs of them so far!) don’t fit in any of my shoes (being hitherto a tights-and-dress-socks person) so I wear them to loaf about and in bed – no wear! (yet)
    As a matter of interest, I’d love to know what you do with your beautiful, but irretrievably holey socks. I’m sure I read in one of your books that you say ‘a hole – darn it’ and then throw them in the bin. Surely not?! I’m new to sock knitting and can’t imagine throwing out my precious handwork, even if holey. You could felt the feltable ones, and make – um, something with the felt. Purses or, um, something. Or sock puppets? Juggling balls? Or pass them on to someone who’d felt them and recycle the lovely fabric?

  234. Unlike your goodself and the other altruistic folk here, I make socks intending to give them away, then fall in love with them in the knitting, decide the proposed recipient wouldn’t like them, would in fact mis-treat them, maybe even slamming them in the dryer, and so I keep them. Plus, with menopause making my feet get super-hot, I find them too hot to wear a lot of the time, so they languish in the drawer.

  235. I have too many wool socks!!!
    For heaven’s sakes, I live in Barcelona! There’s only about one time a year I can wear them here! And I love to knit socks! And all my family have at least one pair!!!
    I should switch to silk, souldn’t I?

  236. I’m a fairly recent sock knitter, about a year or so and still learn new stuff with every new sock. I’ve found out I prefer toe-up, magic loop, side-by-side sock knitting. Thus far I own about 2/3 of the pairs I knit. Only one pair (my sons and among the first I made) has a hole so far but he still wears them to bed :-). He’s clamoring for new ones but he’ll have to wait while I finish his dads first handknit pair. I knit socks to exactly fit the specific toes they need to go on (I hate ‘excess-sock-bulk’in my shoes) so they don’t really lend themselves to sock-napping. I like tong slippers and have knit two pairs of socks (foot mittens) to wear in them using my own fliying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants ‘pattern’. I’m rather pleased with those (both how they turned out and the fact that they turned out at all).
    Given the large number of ‘us, the blog’ who admire you and love how you make us smile and teach us fun(ky) knitting stuff, I wouldn’t be too surprised at the arrival of a tsunami of handknit socks to replenish your drawer…..

  237. I give most of my socks away because while I’m knitting them, usually someone turns out to NEED a pair of socks. (I kind of think of them as hugs and they are the perfect gift for someone who really needs a hug/some encouragement.) The only thing is, when I set out to knit a pair for myself, I have a hard time finishing them. Until it is revealed to me that they were really destined for my friend undergoing chemo or my friend who lost her dog…

  238. My main problem is that my mother, my sister and my husband all have the same size feet…which is also the size of my feet! I’ve knit 3 pairs of socks in the last month and only got to keep one of them, and even that possession may be iffy if my husband tries them on.
    I’ve started another pair in a rough wool in (I think) ugly colors, and I’m hoping that keeps them in my sock drawer, rather than across town 🙂

  239. All of my handknit socks are for me or for my husband… except the ones I made when I was still figuring out the pattern and that turned out a tad too small. Those are on the feet of a friend and came with the instructions to “wear these out, please.” If someone admires my handknit socks, I offer to teach them how to knit. You know… “give a person a sock, they’ll wear them for a while, teach them how to knit their own, they’ll wear them for life.”

  240. I have at least 20 pair that I’ve made for myself and my daughter has about the same number. My 2 year old granddaughter is also the recipient of my spinning and knitting. My son won’t wear homespun, handknit items because he doesn’t want to look like a hick! My husband tells everyone that I never knit for him but that’s because he claims not to like the ‘feel’ of the wool on his feet and won’t wear the socks I made him. I have better things to do than knit for unappreciative people. My daughter-in-law requested a scarf, though. So she’s getting 2 for Christmas.

  241. Thank you very much I have a huge sock addition, in part to you. Also . . . I love Koigu for socks (also in part thanks to you). I did notice that mine sock drawer was looking rather meager, and spent the summer casting on socks for myself . . . I three pair just for me, and three additional pairs for gifts. Then I went yarn shopping this weekend, and bought more yarn for three more pair. It is a viscous circle really, my the socks on my feet are darling!

  242. You go, girl! I HATE btas. I have been fitted and yet I’ve never owned a bra that fits me! A poz on the whole industry!

  243. You see the problem is the size and location of your family. My family lives in the West (of the US) I live in the East, and my in-laws live in Spain. I basically just have my husband and me to knit for – with the occasional pair going to a friend. Friends are far off too. Which means that you do not see loved ones as often – but they do not get to casually eye your socks.

  244. I have the exact problem: “I have enough for me, THIS pair is for Mom, Dave, etc.” I do knit only for close family and good friends, but I always wait too long to re-sock my ownself. It’s a shame.
    OTOH, I can always borrow my husband’s, because his feet are only one size bigger than mine.

  245. Why is it we never go to the Stash when we want to start a project? One would surmise the Harlot has all kinds of yarn that would make lovely socks in there….. Or is the sock yarn the first to go and madame’s stash filled with sweater yarn?

  246. I made myself an adorable pair of anklets from the leftovers of Comfort Sock from my mum’s Christmas socks (also anklets – I got two pairs out of one skein!!). They fit perfectly, which is a rarity when it comes to making myself socks. I’d tucked them gently into my sock drawer and kept them in there, pristine and beautiful, for about a week . . . and then realized I needed a birthday gift for my friend. My friend who just lost her cat and needed a big pick-me-up.
    I no longer have my beautiful Comfort anklets. But my friend was amazed that I’d made them. She wants to frame them. And I am glad I could cheer her up.
    *sigh*
    Eventually I’ll maybe make another pair for myself. But I have a feeling I won’t finish a pair for me until after Christmas, and it will be too late to have warm hand-knit socks this winter.

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