Oh, the pleasure of casting off a brand-new sock. The perfectly aligned stitches and, on the horizon, the places these socks will walk, the weight they will carry.
We share a lot of photos of finished objects and perfectly looking socks, but not so much our worn socks. I’ve lately seen some wonderful mended socks, but that feels like the focus is on the mend itself and the revolutionary action of repairing something instead of buying new.
So this post is an ode to worn, unblocked, socks. The socks I take out of the sock drawer, wear on my wooden floor and in my winter boots, the socks that I made to keep me warm.
I made these in Holstgarn supersoft yarn, a 100% wool, non-superwash wool yarn, held double. The colourway is old gold. The heels are knit in a remnant of Drops Fabel yarn, which is 75% wool, 25% polyamide, also held double. I used 2.5 needles.
The socks you see here have been worn and washed in the washing machine on a cold program 3 times.
Some more trivia about the materials and objects you see in these photos: I recently made the Japanese linen trousers you see peek of, I bought the needles second hand a few years ago, and they still feel like a treasure, the book is La vorágine, by José Eustasio Rivera, a book about the Amazon jungle, originally published in 1924.