It's Always Darkest Before the Darn

As a self proclaimed selfish knitter, there are times when I happily knit for others.

High on the list are the socks I knit for my father.  He wears them at night and loves them. I think he has six or seven pairs.

Often when I see him, there is a pair of socks in need of darning. To be honest, I never quite knew what darning a sock meant until he asked me to fix the holes in his socks.

I actually found a darning egg; I take pride in having the right tools for the job. I also am a sucker for knitting notions.

I also take pride in "MacGyvering" a solution.  In the past I've used water bottles.  This time I used a vitamin jar and it worked like a charm.

There were also "darns" in need of darning. His socks are custom knit (2 @ time, toe up, magic loop pattern) and I use super wash worsted weight merino yarn. It may be time for a new pair.  

P.S. Blog title credit goes to my sister, Nancy. I must give credit where credit is due and she might not let me hear the end of it.

😜

This is why I knit socks

I've been knitting socks for my dad for at least five years. These two pairs of socks are the first socks I knit him.

 In case you're wondering, the yarn is Artyarns Supermerino (Aran: 100% Merino, 104 yards). The pattern is custom for him. ;)

 Periodically when I visit, I'll get a "heads-up" that socks need darning.  I am always pleasantly surprised when I find leftover bits of the yarn that belong to the socks.  because I'm not that organized. 

This time, I found a small ball the day before while looking for something else completely.  It's purely happenstance that the next day when they called I knew where the yarn was.  The second ball was in the first place I looked. 

What can I say?  This time the knitting gods smiled on me. I must pay homage to them lest they get cranky.  What is a proper homage/sacrifice for a knitting god?  Do I have to rip something out? Suggestions are welcome. But I digress.

 I believe this is the first pair of socks I knit for him.  This is the third or fourth time I've darned these socks. The first time I darned socks, I used a water bottle.  Since then, I acquired a darning egg. I must admit, I liked the water bottle better for shape, it was pretty noisy to work with though.

Here's a link on how to darn socks.

The joy on his face when they are darned is all the inspiration I need to keep knitting (him) socks.

This is love and appreciation

I knit socks for my dad. He loves them and wears them.

 

 I'm pretty sure this is the first pair I knit for him.  This is at least the third time I have darned them.  The first time I used a water bottle because I didn't have a darning egg.

Since the last time I darned them, I found a darning egg.

I have to admit after using the darning egg, I prefer the water bottle.  It was easier to manipulate.

It is a pleasure to knit for someone who truly appreciates the knitted gift. :)

And from the puppy files:

I wonder if Boris realizes that Tucker is touching him.  Tucker is staying really quiet and still because Boris never lets him get this close.

Harry being soulful.

The saga of the sock(s) and why you shouldn't pack in semi-darkness

This is the story of dad's socks. My dad loves the hand knit socks I make him. He wears them at night when he sleeps and these socks are seriously loved. I have darned them on numerous occasions. He rarely request things, that's just not his way. So this fall when he asked for another pair I was delighted to be able to knit something for him.  Since I leave things to the last minute, I planned to start them on my way to visit them.

The first pairs I made him were knit in Artyarns Supermerino. since Westport Yarns doesn't carry that yarn, I had to pick a different yarn. There was a great color of Malabrigo Rios and I bought the last skein. I didn't actually work out the yardage until this week when I went to swatch. Also, I hadn't written down the pattern last time I knit him socks, so I was starting from scratch.  Believe me I'm taking good notes this time.

The skein of Rios has 210 yards and l would need just under 300 yards. Of course I was doing this four days before I left.  Why do ahead of time what you can do at the 11th hour?   I looked online to see if I could find another skein. However with leaving in less than a week, this was completely unrealistic. I even contemplated expedited shipping until I saw how much it would cost.

I decided to find a compatible contrast color that I could use for the toes, heels, and ribbing. I picked up a skein of Plymouth Superwash Merino in charcoal. I carefully packed all my projects with (what I thought were) matching needles. When I sat down in the waiting room before my flight and pulled out my needles I couldn't believe my eyes. Unbelievable. I thought I brought #4 needles. The package I packed did indeed say #4 40", however, there were #6 needles in the #4 package. That's what I get for packing in semi-darkness.  You can't even imagine my furious frustration... I texted my sister and shared my tale of woe.  This would totally throw off my sock plan. She talked me off the ledge.  She had numerous needle sizes with her and there was a local yarn store where we were going. I sighed in relief for that and the fact that I had packed back up projects for my back up projects.

 

By the time we settled in the first day I was able to get the toes done.  The reason being that I had to darn Dad's existing socks.  The heels and toes were hanging on by proverbial threads

 

The first sock I creatively mended with duplicate stitches and careful mattress-stitch-ish needlework.  

With the second sock, I looked up darning socks on youtube and followed the directions.  I didn't have a darning egg so I used a water bottle.  The results were much better.  Next time I see a darning egg, not only will I know what to do with it, I'll pick one up to keep with my bag of tricks. 

By the end of the third day I neared the end of the foot.  I turned the heel on the third day.  ON THE FOURTH DAY I FINISHED THEM.  This is what knitting monogamously will do for you.  For the whole visit I only knit those socks.  I just had to finish them before I left.

Happily I finished them in time for him to wear to bed on the fourth night.  His feet were warm and toasty and he liked the color. (I plan on using the left over yarn for another pair and flipping the colors.)

Sock Model:  My Dad, well-known American Publisher. ;)