Socks that don’t really rock, but do fulfill their intended purpose
So I do still knit! It just takes me an extraordinarily long time to finish anything. This is the first year in five that I didn’t make myself a birthday sweater, but seeing as I’ve been giving away my sweaters instead of wearing them it didn’t seem like a priority this year. (I am not dedicated enough to hand wash sweaters every time I wear them, and I have observed there’s something about wool that invites spit up and other natural disasters. Thus my sweater collection is in hiding. Not to mention my mommy knockers, but if I told you that, it would be TMI, wouldn’t it?)
With that, here are the socks I made for my lovely sister-in-law. My swirl socks pattern adapted to fingering weight yarn, Lorna’s Laces because that’s my brother’s favorite, and a completion time that is downright embarrassing. I’ll give you a hint: these socks are older than my 5-month-old.
And then this pair is for my grandma. It’s just a spiraling rib-ish sort of thing because I got a little antsy.
When my grandfather was ill I used to make him a pair a month during the winter, or thereabouts. It was probably more for me than for him–the need to do SOMETHING when there is absolutely nothing anyone can do. One of the most touching moments of my life was when I went to visit him (at the time we lived 13 hours away), the first thing he did was wheel back to his sock drawer and slowly tell me that he thought about me every morning. We cried together (heck, I’m crying now) and I think that I was never so glad to be able to be a knitter. There are some people who do so much for you that there’s no way you could return all the goodness they’ve poured into you. My grandfather was one of those people, and my grandmother continues to be one too. So I do what I can. I knit socks.
Thanks for listening. Go forth, knit, and love.
Wow. What a special thing to have shared with your grandfather. You got me misty eyed too!
My Grandmommie was buried in the pink sweater that I knit for her. So yeah, I get what you’re saying about the socks.
This is beautiful. So glad your talent was able to bless the life of your grandfather, and yours in return.
So now I’m crying – my grandpa just got moved to hospice and I read this and think “but I never knit him anything!” But then I remembered that I’m a terrible knitter, and just cherish the fact that we shared talents and hobbies (playing clarinet, golf).