This doesn't include the big house socks I knit with acrylic yarns for wearing around the house. And this is minus the lovely orange pair I wore today and didn't want to stack with the clean ones.
When I was little, and growing up, my mother knit socks for all of us (my dad, brother, and I). She knit them with Red Heart and she knit them very large, so we could wear them over our regular socks (mom kept the thermostat low). You couldn't wear the mom-socks with shoes or boots. They were too bulky.
And mom knit our socks with these broken plastic dpns. Probably about a size 8. That was all she ever knit socks with -- not only was my mom frugal, she knew what she liked and refused to buy new needles that she might not like as much. To her, the broken ones were still usable, even though they had no tips!
Perhaps she didn't like the metal dpns, as I don't. They make my hands ache, and my mom had arthritis. I don't believe wooden needles were readily available in the little corner of Louisiana she lived in at the time, and knowing my mom, she likely would have balked at spending the extra money for the bamboo needles (anything from $8 to $12, and if you use circs, you need two).
I personally knit with almost nothing but Clover brand knitting needles. I have some Knitpicks Harmony needles which are also very good to knit with, but the Clovers were what was at Joann's and regular readers of my blog know about my fondness for Joann's! So about 90% of my collection is Clover Bamboo, and Addi Turbo for the smallest sizes.
Does anyone else have a sock story to tell, for Socktober? If so, Georgie Girl and Molly-the-Glaucoma-Cat would love to hear it!
No, do go on ... socks, was it? How interesting.
That's quite a pile of socks and a sweet story about your mom.
ReplyDeleteI think I prefer the addi-turbo needles, I like their pointy-ness.
My but you have a lovely sock addiction. Not one fun story about socks from here, but I am ready to repurpose some wool yarn that I care not for the color to make some felted slippers that seem to be the range.
ReplyDeleteLook at the all socks! They are fantastic. I loved hearing that your mother knit your family socks when you were a child. That's a wonderful memory you have.
ReplyDeleteI love the sock story. My Mom knit us mittens more often than socks. She used to get really annoyed with us because at least once a week one of us would come back from school without a mitten. In the spring when the snow started to melt she'd walk up and down the routes to our schools looking for the lost mittens in the melting snow :)
ReplyDeleteA wonderful pile of socks and background story. My mom used to knit us sweaters always using the same long sharp metal double pointed needles. I was a little bit afraid of them when I was a kid, but now they have a cherished spot in my needle collection.
ReplyDeleteWow! So many!
ReplyDeleteYour story makes me want to knit really thick socks. :-) When I was a child my mother was knitting all the time (socks and sweaters) for all of us five children and my father. Now she doesn't knit anymore and spends the time with reading.
I use metal needles (dpns for socks) and do not like the bamboo and plastic ones.
OHMUHGOSH! That's a lot of socks! I'm just starting my first pair for the month. I didn't even consider gathering together socks from the past in commemoration.
ReplyDelete