The socks I am keeping

There was a good deal of sulking involved, but I have finally finished the socks I was making for mum and which are now for me, owing to my having used needles too small for the slouchy elastic fit that would allow her to get them on:

Normally when I get that close to the finish of a project - in this case, I was right up to the toes before I noticed my mistake - I don't stop till I'm done. Nothing beats the thrill of looking at a Thing with no needles attached, not to mention striking a line off the To Do list, am I right?

(okay, maybe doing that and eating supremely expensive milk chocolate ice cream at the same time. While somebody else cleans your bathroom.)

But I put so much energy into these, so much love and positive thought - every stitch was all about mum. These are mum's socks, and since they aren't going to mum, they must be a failure.

But they are, um, pretty good looking failures aren't they. And I did just make an equally special, if faster, bag for mum she can use every day, and not just till it needs a wash.

Maybe there are two stages in the life of a made thing - the life it had while it was being made, with all the feelings and activities of those times soaking into the fiber, and the life it has when it is being used. Maybe I can turn these very beautiful socks into something I feel good about every time I look at them, just by living in them myself.

(I probably won't wear them when I'm going to see mum though.)


Project Details

No-Purl Monkeys, CraftyPancakes' version of Cookie A's Monkey Socks, in which all the purl stitches are knitted

Knitterly Things' Vesper Sock Yarn, 'Far Away' exclusive sock club colourway