The Dead Socks and the Living

My beloved pair of Koigu Jaywalkers gave up their lives in the service of keeping my feet toasty yesterday. Look at that gaping heel- it's like another mouth! How did I manage not to notice it when I put them on? Can holes that large suddenly appear? Oh well, they gave me a good year of service, which isn't too bad for an all-wool sock that goes through the sock hell I put all of my socks through. My first pair of exciting socks, made in a wavy rib from a pattern in a one-off grocery store magazine, died two months ago. They too were all wool, a lovely copper and green handpaint from Shelridge Farms, so I guess we have proof of the longevity of wool blends, since my very first pair of socks is still going strong, even if they are getting a little thin in parts. However, I had them around for about two and a half years, so I guess the Shelridge superwash wool is a bit sturdier than whatever base yarn Koigu is using.

All of this is to say that, between the dead socks and the lonely singles, I need more handknit socks. Unfortunately, I've had sock ADD. Right now, there are no less than four socks on different needles. One of them is almost finished, it's just been waiting for the toe of the 2nd sock to be stitched together. Waiting... for months. I've got one twisted-rib cuff of the Ripple Weave socks from Fall 2006 Vogue complete in a pink Koigu, but I'm not sure if I'm all that keyed-up about that pattern right now. Then, there's a pair of denim-y self-striping socks I started over Christmas break, since the yarn was a present. But I think I'll finish these first, Broadripples in some Regia yarn whose name and colourway have been lost to time. I think the self-striping and the dork lace pattern work together here, and the colours remind me of a Swedish kindergarten. Like, they would paint the walls these colours, and seeing them would fill you with the calm satisfaction of knowing your child would be learning to live together in harmony and without prejudice, and only play with independently-produced, lo-tech, educational toys. After all, if they can get such bright colours to work together, what can't they do with your offspring? Plus, I really like the pattern. Simple, but just intriguing enough not to bore.