Hand-Knit Socks

Now for a lighter topic!

Munchkin's feet are growing quite big. Many of her socks no longer fit. The only socks that do fit are her boring white socks. She kind of misses her cute socks, so I thought that I'd knit her some cute socks!

I've wanted to learn a method of knitting two socks at once using the magic loop method for a while now. I have a great book that teaches this method. I pulled out the book, needles and yarn and set to work.

The author recommends knitting toddler-sized socks to learn the method, and also suggests making each sock a different color so that you don't get the yarn for each confused. (You have to use two separate balls of yarn; otherwise your two socks would be knit together. This is a bad idea if you plan to walk while wearing your socks…) She mentions that toddlers won't care that their socks don't match, so once you are done with them, gift them to an adorable little kid who will love them. Unfortunately, Munchkin was not impressed with the idea of an unmatched pair of socks…

She eagerly tried on her new socks, and then asked if she could wear just the pink socks. I told her that there was only one pink sock. She pondered that, and told me that she would wear the purple socks, then. I told her that there was only one purple sock. She asked me to knit her more socks. I had an idea that I'd wind up knitting a second pair of mismatched socks for her… So, I cast on the second set, and tried to take the first pair off her feet. Even thought they didn't match, she insisted that she wanted to wear them while she waited for me to finish the matches.

When we moved into our house, my mom found a wooden box full of socks that my great-grandmother had knit for her sons. Socks are a practical gift, but they are also a gift of love. I've heard it explained this way— socks take time to knit, depending on the size of someone's feet, they can take a lot of time to knit. You give them to someone you love, knowing that they will wear them out. Then you knit them another pair to wear out. Anyone who knits you a pair of socks has put a lot of love into them. I know, socks are cheap, why not just buy them? If you have ever worn hand-knit socks, you will understand! I have one pair that I knit for myself, and I wear them whenever they are clean! Also, what better way to show my kids how much I love them, than to knit them socks. Maybe someday, someone will find a box full of socks that I've knit, and smile thinking about how much I must have loved my kids to knit them so many socks.