Monday, November 19, 2012

As Simple as Socks



This is one of my very favorite times of year. Woolie season. It’s normally the time of year that I break out my heavy sweater and wool socks. Of course, I’ve noticed that it’s a whole lot colder up here, and if the truth is to be told, I never put my woolies away this summer. It just seemed that there were enough cool nights that I wanted my toes toasty. So we as a family have discovered a problem - we simply do not own enough wool socks. The other problem is of course that because I love to knit, I have a whole house full of spoiled sock snobs. Even the four year old. Every year I make socks for Christmas and birthdays, because it’s Tuesday, and just because, but if you think kids grow out of shoes fast, you should see how depressingly fast they can grow out of a pair of socks that took me four days to knit.
 










Why knit socks for my kids, you might ask? Why put all that effort into something that they’re only going to outgrow? Why not just buy them? Well, I could go into all the practical reasons, like it costs me less than $5 a pair to knit them, and considerably more to buy them. They last a lot longer - I’ve JUST worn a hole in my oldest pair, and I’ve been wearing them for more than a decade now. They are warmer and softer, and fit better. I KNOW that they aren’t made with slave labor. They’re machine washable and dryable. But the truth is, though I appreciate all of those advantages, they aren’t the real reason behind my labor. Why do I do it? Love. I mean, come on, four days for a pair of socks, it has to be love, right? I love my husband and children, and it gives me a real sense of satisfaction to see them warm and happy through my labor. Plus, you just can’t buy wool socks in these colors. Really, I’ve looked. And seriously, how cool is it that kids at 8 and 4 years old are excited about getting clothes on Christmas morning? Jason shows them off to total strangers. “My mommy made these for me, and they’re ORANGE.”

So, here I sit, and I knit, and knit. I have several pounds of yarn to go through this winter, and books of patterns to try. And though this labor is seen by many as sheer drudgery, with every stitch my heart is filled with love.

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