Socks for Dad

Can you guess what this is?

Stumped?

It's a form for blocking hand knitted socks, which I quickly made out of an old wire hanger. According to this website I saved myself £18 by making them myself.

I never thought I'd become a sock knitter; I don't wear them much myself and Me Needles wears them out so quickly it's not worth the effort. But my Dad recently mentioned that the elastic at the top of his socks irritates him, so he gets my Mum to un-pick all the elastic from his socks for him. (I know - we have WILD conversations!) To spare my Mum some of this tedium, I decided to knit my first pair of socks, elastic free. And here are the results:

I didn't know there was so much to the world of socks - knitting toe-up, top-down, Turkish cast-on, wrap and turn - these are just some of the techniques I've learnt about since delving in to this project. I can see why people get into knitting socks - they're quick and there's so much to do that you don't get bored. Of course, I decided to start big and chose a complicated pattern from The Knitter (issue 56) for my first ever pair:

Close up of the twisted rib and lace pattern

And here's the man himself receiving them:

Dad in his workshop with socks!

They fit brilliantly, but I negelcted to get a picture of him modelling his new socks because I was laughing too much - Dad was winding Mum up by threatening to wear them with sandals on they're upcoming trip to Italy. But he definitely likes them - he's ordered a pair in burgundy. 

I've got some knitting to do!