Gift Socks

I finished my sock pal's socks this weekend. Please make note .... I finished these socks with time to spare. I've never had a gift finished so far before the deadline before .... I hardly know what to do with myself.

pattern: "Madder Ribbed Sock" from Knitting Vintage Socks
yarn: Socks That Rock ("Queen Rock")

I knit these on US size 1 DPNs, and spent most of my knitting time fretting about how firm the fabric was. I came very close to frogging everything and starting over again on size 2s. But the socks never failed to pass my fit test (I stick my fist into the sock to see if it feels too tight -- did you know that for most people the circumference of your closed fist equals the circumference of your foot?), and once they'd been washed and blocked the fabric relaxed and softened and ...... well, now I know what all the hoopla over this yarn has been about. It is WONDERFUL.

In other gift-sock news, I mailed my mother's Whitby socks yesterday. They've been sitting around waiting for me to get my Dad's socks finished so that I could send them off together .... I had this mental image of poor Dad feeling left out because my mother has received both socks and a scarf this year while all I've done for him is dangle the promise of handknits in front of his nose and then fail to follow through. In my defense, you'll remember that I knit most of a sock leg for him, only to abandon it because the yarn feel like plastic. I bought some better yarn, but must admit that I've spent the last few months procrastiknitting .... poor Dad. It's nothing personal, it's just that I haven't been able to face knitting a 10-mile tube of grey stockinette, even in the name of love.

Well, I finally shamed myself into casting on last weekend. I decided to knit his socks toe-up, since my memory was insisting that Dad's feet were about the same size as my husband's, and I figured I could use B's feet as mannequins. On Saturday I spoke with my mother and mentioned that Dad's socks were finally on the needles. As an afterthought, I asked her his shoe size again .... and it's a full size or more less than B's.

I give up. The Whitby socks are pretty thick and warm, which means that if I didn't put them in the mail soon my mom wouldn't be able to wear them until next fall. So, Mom will get her socks by the end of this week, and Dad ..... well, my parents are visiting us in May, and I'm going to greet my father with tape measure in hand. He'll have his socks by June.