Xmas in April

I'm still knitting a Christmas gift. We're talking about Christmas '09, in case there was any doubt. I should be more ashamed of that than I am (which is virtually not at all). My mistake was thinking that I could knit two pairs of socks in two weeks. Let me rephrase that: My mistake was thinking that I wanted to knit two pairs of socks in two weeks. Socks and I have an odd relationship. No, not that Socks, perv. Knitted socks. I'm not sure how to describe it without sounding like a total douche, but I'm going to try anyway. For whatever reason, making socks is en vogue right now (as en vogue as knitting can get, I know I'm a nerd) and I can't quite get into it. I love the finished project, and it was originally something I was intimidated to try ("Turning the heel is soooo hard!"- bull). Once you've learned the basics of sock construction, you know how to make a sock.

Bam! It's a sock. (This picture makes it look more complicated than I intended. I swear, it's not.)

I definitely don't think of myself as a hipster, or someone who bucks popular trends just to feel superior (that was redundant, I could have just said hipster). I just don't get the appeal. I equate it to the fixed gear ("fixie") of the cycling world--another trend de jour I can't get behind. I know that there are different little tweaks you can do (different toes, different heels) and you can do them top-down or toe-up, but half-way through one sock I'm ready to start something new. So I do, then I come back to the socks, work a little, get bored, start something new, then repeat--until six months later I have a pair of socks.

I could possibly be re-inspired by a used-bookstore find from this weekend: Folk Socks, by Nancy Bush. Check it:


It has history of socks, evolution of socks through different cultures, what regions the different constructions came from, etc. I eat that kind of stuff up, so I'm hoping this will kindle a little sock love in my cold heart (and help me finally get this Xmas present done).