A message i posted on Ravelry about why I don't like knitting socks (maybe I'll fix the code later to convert to HTML)
I don't really like sock knitting either. (Speaking from the ever-so-experienced point of view of two pairs of Fuzzy Feet and 1.5 pairs of Pomotamuses... but not for lack of *trying* to get excited about socks.) I love the look of Pomatomuses and got through the first one OK, but I now have severe Second Sock Syndrome. I have a couple of other socks I really want to knit because they look so nice--toe-up Jaywalkers in Austermann Step, because of the cool aloe vera thing and because I've never done toe-ups, and Eunny's Bayerische socks because they're gorgeous, Twisted Flowers and Baudelaires--but I'm just not attracted to the process for some reason. I've put a lot of thought into why this is, and I guess it boils down to a few things for me:
- I don't like knitting on small circumferences. My favorite way to knit is in the round on a circular needle. I don't like the way I have to hold my hands to keep the DPNs manageable, and I don't like the way you have to constantly stop and slide stitches on two circs or magic loop.
- Second Sock Syndrome... 'nuff said. (Or maybe not enough: of things that come in pairs, at least with colorwork mittens you can reverse the colors on the second mitten to keep yourself amused....)
- Knitting a sock feels interminable to me. So many hours of tiny stitches put in to create such a small object! If I put so many hours of work into a project, I'd rather have a sweater.
- And I guess the biggest thing is this: Knitted socks provide very little bang for the buck, so to speak. I like knitting things that will be visible to admire for a long period of time. I usually wear socks once and then wash them, and during the short period that they're on my feet (i.e. one day every two weeks) it's not likely that anyone will notice them, or that I'll get a chance to look at them much myself. I don't ever notice people's socks, and I feel like (with the possible exception of knee socks with Mary Janes and a skirt) it's kind of a fashion faux pas to wear visible socks. If you're wearing sandals or open shoes that would show them off, you shouldn't really be wearing socks with them, cause if it's cold enough to wear socks you should put on a real pair of shoes.
I don't want people to be upset with me for saying this, but I feel knitting has warped my fashion sense and I'm sure this happens to many other people as well. Before I started knitting, I would only want to wear plain, single-colored stockinette crewnecks or v-neck sweaters, maybe with a tasteful cable here and there--not for me the variegated yarns and mohair and lace and weird high-fashion construction details. But now I feel like a sweater must have something interesting and unique for me to knit it, which I fear may be quickly leading me down the path into You Knit What/Threadbared territory. I think highly visible socks may be one of the first warning signs that you're getting sucked into the bendy, warped fashion event horizon of a passionate knitting hobby.
I don't wash gloves, mittens, hats, and scarves very often, if at all. I wear them constantly, they're useful, they're highly visible. I may put the same number of tiny stitches and fiddly DPN work into a pair of gloves, but at least I can look at them and enjoy them for more than a day every couple of weeks, and other people might see them and admire them, and they can be a nice fashion statement, unlike my socks.
- I tend to lose socks in the wash, and that would be supremely tragic if I'd spent hours handknitting the lost sock(s). But I really would rather not handwash my socks all the time.
I do, however, like all the construction details that go into a sock... love the whole process of turning the heel! And sometimes I start thinking about Anna's [post about the hidden pearl buttons and the ring lined with diamonds][1] or the Japanese women who wear intricately patterned, beautiful robes ([nagajuban][2]) under their outer kimono--so much effort put into creating this beautiful garment of which only the very edge shows around the neck--but they know it's there; the linked article calls it "hidden smartness." There's something very appealing sometimes about having a luxurious item of hidden treasure clothing that only you can enjoy. In Magnificent Mittens, there's a suggestion to knit a separate mitten lining from angora. [Helloyarn](person) did this with cashmere and I love that idea. So... intricately cabled socks in $30 boutique sock yarn sometimes sound like a fabulous way to treat yourself.
Thus far not fabulous enough for me to get through my second Pomatomus, but I'm getting there. Eventually. Once I finish this sweater I'm working on, maybe.
So, bottom line, I guess I'm also interested in hearing sock mojo tips... maybe one of these days the sock bug will bite, who knows? Maybe you'll find me this time next year wearing clowny rainbow variegated Koigu socks with sandals as I frolic on the beach in my knitted bikini and shorts. Or reclining in bed in my qiviut lace hand-wash-only bedsocks as I write haiku about letting the [rare green deer go][3].
[1]: http://needleandhook.co.uk/journal/2006/08/lavenders_blue_diddle_diddle.html
[2]: http://www.answers.com/topic/kimono
[3]: http://knittingrat.blogspot.com/2005/12/ode-to-my-socks-by-pablo-neruda.html
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
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