Imagine

The Yarn Harlot's picture of her visit to Strawberry Fields got my imagination going, and I began to wonder what it would look like to see all my own socks in one place. This is the result.

Today was laundry day, so it's a good day for a group picture. Here are (almost) all the socks I've made for myself, squeaky clean and spiraling out roughly in the order I made them.

The Coptic socks in the center were my first socks ever. I started them in the summer of 1999, and finished them around October of that year. It had been years since I'd done any knitting at all, but since I stumbled into a class and knew the teacher I could hardly admit that. These have the distinction of being the only socks in my collection which pre-date Aaron....although I was hitting on him pretty enthuasistically at the event where I displayed the finished socks. I wonder if the really cool socks helped lure him in?

The next pair is missing. Somewhere, I have a set of Turkish socks from an old issue of Piecework. That was when I discovered superwash wool. Two years ago, the socks and I both had a delightful adventure when we made an unexpected trip to Turkey. It was a bit warm for wool in June, but they had to get out and see the country, right? Perhaps I should think about where I want to go next, and plan socks accordingly. The Roman Rib footie (its mate is missing) is the product of that trip, and I got to see all sorts of Turkish socks while there.

The first normal socks I made were the green Fascine Braid socks (toward the center at 6:00). I had some Mountain Colors yarn that I'd never used for its intended project, so socks seemed like a good idea. After that I was hooked.

The blue and pink Turkish-style socks are from Summer 2003 in Washington, D.C., when I had an internship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and discovered a great fiber store in Alexandria. The pink "Cut Your Teeth" socks were completed on the way to and from the SCA's Gulf Wars in 2005. The blue False Flame Crew Socks are my Knitting Olympics project, made with yarn from Elizabeth, a Secret Pal gift. I count four finished sets of Sock Club socks, and two pair made from yarn left over from sock-gifts for other people. The rainbow Opal socks are from the River Knits retreat of 2005, so most of my production has been since then.

I have a couple of pairs of souvenir socks, including some cool ones with pictures of the Munich tram, but most of my commercial socks don't hold so many memories. Sometimes I wonder why I spend $20+ and hours of labor to make socks when they could be bought for so much less. I guess this is why. Imagine.