Socks for others

I usually knit for me, but lately I've been knitting socks for other family members. My daughter is to the size where I don't have to knit socks specifically for her anymore. Back in my early sock knitting days, some of my socks were a tad too short and I finished them anyways. Now those socks belong to my daughter. They're a little bit long for her, but she'll grow into them just like she's grown out of all of the other socks that I knit too big for her last year.

My son still has little feet. By little, I mean that they're about 2 inches shorter than mine. They're not the tiny little feet anymore. I loved knitting socks for his little feet and now he's growing too fast. These socks were knit big on purpose. He mostly wears these around the house. With our new laminate flooring, he likes sliding across the floor in them too. Both socks are sport weight Fortissima yarn that I bought several years ago from Little Knits. They were one sale and I bought a lot of it because it was hard to find sport weight self-striping yarn back then. Over the years, my kids have socks in several different sizes from this yarn. It's not too scratchy and very sturdy yarn.

My husband is picky about his socks. He usually lives in smartwool type socks in the winter. I remember when he bought a pair early in our marriage and I wondered why socks could cost so much? Jokes on me since the yarn that I buy now usually costs more than that. I've knit him a few pairs over the years and he's had an opinion about all of them. Fingering weight merino/nylon blend--too thin. Sport weight self-striping--too scratchy. Sport weight indie yarn--felted and now no longer fit.

And then we come to Knit Picks Felici. He says that this one is very soft and is one of his warmest pairs of socks. For last Father's Day, I gave him a pair out of the Sticks and Stones colorway. He's worn those weekly through fall and winter and they have held up really well. Recently, I finished another pair out of the Ecology colorway. He did say that they colors were a bit bright. I mentioned that if he could wear orange smartwool socks, these were along the same lines in brightness. He did wear then and he does like them. Yay!! I have a few more pairs for him planned. I just need to knit them on the sly before he can see the colors. ;-)

I'm still working on pattern writing. I have three patterns that are really close to the test knitting stage--Complicated, Crooked Wheels, and Mullion. Another pair is almost there--just needs some clarification in the leg to cuff transition. The fingerless mitts pattern has stalled at the thumb gusset. I'm stuck on the wording.

This year is off to a busy start.