On Socks

What is it about socks that grabs so many knitters? After all, as my husband never gets tired of pointing out: "You can buy three pairs for $9.99 at Farm and Fleet." And yet, many of us would rather pay $20 or more for yarn and then devote dozens of hours to produce a single pair.

A pair of plan vanilla socks pops with KnitCircus yarn.

I know what got me started: a skein of Opal sock yarn with specks of bright colors against a background of white. It became my first pair of socks (which I think my mother still wears) or, more accurately, my first pair of fingering-weight socks. Before taking on fingering-weight and size 1 needles, I practiced by knitting a handful of pairs in worsted weight -- a method I highly recommend.

These are Keith's Hanukkah socks. He rarely wears them because they are "too pretty" to wear, he says.

Once I knit up that Opal yarn, I was never again without at least one pair of socks on the needles. I swear I could knit a pair of plain stockinette socks in my sleep. They've become my go-to project for meetings and other settings that require simple knitting.

My Winter Rose socks in Great Lakes Tweed yarn.

But my favorite pairs tend to incorporate lace, and one of the best lace socks I've knit are these orange ones, Winter Rose by Helen Stewart. This pattern is downright meditative. I know I'll knit these again.

I am quite rigid about how I knit socks, though I'd like to branch out. At this point, I only knit cuff-down and I always use a heel flap/gusset construction. And I like DPNs. This summer I really want to learn toe-up on one long circular needle.

These are my current "meetings" socks. I bought the yarn on clearance, not realizing that it would knit up so well. They are Hermoine's Everyday Socks, which is beginning to be my plain vanilla. I just love the texture of this pattern.

The only bad thing I can say about sock knitting is that it tends to lead to sock-yarn stash explosion. It's so easy to buy "just one skein." It's amazing how fast those skeins accumulate. I suspect they multiply in the dark of a Rubbermaid bin because there is no way that I bought that much sock yarn.

I have quite a few pairs in my sock drawer, and I love giving socks as gifts. But at the rate I'm knitting them, I may need to make more friends to expand my sock-giving!