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.
No comments:
Post a Comment