Just a Little Too Late

First of all, remember this? Well here's the last picture of my three skeins of Koigu all in one place. My Sock Pal's socks are winding their merry way through the U.S. Postal system as we speak.

I didn't learn to knit socks out of a burning desire to knit socks. I had, in fact, failed to learn to knit socks before. It was an idea I had toyed with, but I had no real need to get it right in any hurry.

Then we went to England last November to visit my sweetheart's family. His sister was no longer able to find the stretchy-topped 100% wool socks which would fit his mother's swollen ankles. We went shopping to try to find something she could wear, and we did find some wool socks at Tesco. They were cute, but the ankles were obviously too tight. All the other socks we found were cotton.

So my plan was to get pretty good at making socks this year and then, when we make our annual pilgrimage, take measurements and knit a few pairs for her. I wasn't going to ask his sister to take measurements until I was comfortable enough making them that I knew exactly which measurements I would need to make these special, non-standard socks.

As an interim measure, to give myself a goal much closer to right now, I made sure I successfully knit my sweetheart two pairs of socks and then signed up for Sockapalooza. To get gauge on the yarn I had bought for that, I made myself a pair of toe-up socks, as well. Then I knit another pair for my sweetheart after I finished the socks for my sock pal, and I'm now half-way into two more pairs. I'm starting to get comfortable with my gauge and I'm trying both cables and a lozenge pattern.

But I started this whole thing just a little too late. The day I was supposed to mail the Sockapalooza socks, I drove him to the airport to catch a plane to visit his mother in the hospital. She passed away two days later, several hours after I mailed the socks.

So now I've got a new skill that I can't use for its intended purpose, and I'm very sad when I work on the socks I've got on the needles. Sigh.