Knits as they are known: Shur'tugal socks

Still cold enough for socks around here.  So this week's edition of knits as they are known is also a pair of socks.  According to my Ravelry notes, this took about a year to knit, and they just turned 4.

NOW

THEN

Pattern: Shur'tugal 

by Alice Yu

This used to be a free pattern, but it's not anymore.

Yarn:

Socks that Rock Lightweight  by Blue Moon Fiber Arts in color "Princess Plummy"

My Thoughts: According to my notes, I didn't Love the knitting process on these, although I do love the yarn.  As far as sock yarns go, however, I find the finished produce to be a little thick.  I actually can't tell too much difference between these and a pair I knit out of medium weight STR.  The end result of that is that they don't always fit in most shoes, but they are very thick and comfy. THey really only fit in my Halflinger clogs (specifically these). As a result and they really become hanging around the house and weekend socks.  Which is a good thing, because this particular pair has fallen victim to some unknown misfortune:

Sad sock hole.

That, however, is mostly OK. It speaks to the quality of the yarn and/or pattern. That hole has been there for *cough* several *cough* years, and at least half a dozen machine wash and dry cycles.  It seems to just be the way it is.  It doesn't grow, it doesn't get worse, and when they are worn it looks just normal:

Yes the hole is still there, just hidden during normal wear

  I'm too lazy to darn it as I should.

Final assessment: socks that rock does indeed rock and live up to the hype, although it is a little thicker then one might want for socks in the South.

Knits as they are known : Pillar Socks

The other day, it got cold and I had to wear socks.  Yes, where I live it is possible to avoid wearing socks until December. Yes, I still knit wool socks.  It's a contradiction, I know, but if I keep knitting, and keep living here, I could possibly knit enough socks so I never have to wear a store bought pair again.* It's a life goal.  Aim high I say.  Anyways, I digress.  It was cold. I wore socks.  Specifically, I wore the first pair of socks I ever knit in the round.  More specifically, I wore a hand knit pair of socks that are more than a decade old.  They still fit, they still bring me joy. I will not be Kondo-ing  them away anytime soon.

It got me thinking about the destiny of all the things we knit. We knitters of the Internet love to knit things and love to show them off.  We carefully pose a freshly knit and perfectly blocked FO to show it (and our skills) off to the world. Sometimes we tell a little story about why we knit it, what inspired us, the tribulations we went through while doing it, etc.  We follow trends, and sometimes we all knit the same thing.  Patterns come and go. More recent converts to the knitting world may not even know the February lady sweater craze of 2008, or the monkeys, oh the monkeys, and how can we ever forget the clapotis Seriously, 22000+ projects and I'm still not even sure how to say that word out loud.

Pretty knits are shown off, and pressed into to service by their new owners, and forgotten to time. When was  the last time you saw a picture of handknit socks years after they came off the needles? Well today I remedy this.  I'm going to try my best to start documenting,  the full life of my knits.  How do they wear? how do they work? how do they wash?  Where they really worth what was put into them? It is these burning issues, understudied in the knittingverse, that I will attempt to address. 

So in that spirit, here are the socks I wore today:

 

 And here they are when I first knit them (and blogged them):

Pattern: Pillars by Lisa Stichweh
Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll Tonal, I think the color was called Sunflower. 
Knit 2011/2012: I knit these mostly on airplanes.  I don't remember finishing, but I do remember starting them on a trip to Seattle.

4 years of service and they have held up well.  I was pleasantly surprised with the relatively in-expensive yarn in both the knitting and wearing process.  They still fit, they are still soft and comfy, the go through the wash fairly regularly.  I've been mostly good about keeping them out of the dryer, but I know they've been through at least a couple of times.  There is always some fuzz on them, but it makes them all the more beautiful to me.    Good pattern, great yarn, happy results. 

*I might still buy happy socks, because they are pretty damn comfy. Comfy and cotton.