They are made from handspun wool: the brown strand is naturally brown Corriedale, from a fleece I bought online, and the white is Columbia/Hampshire. The wool spun up into a nice thin sock yarn, and I knit these up on the lovely wooden needles that The Boy got me for Christmas.
I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's "afterthought heels" , since I have never yet met anyone who is as hard on socks as The Reluctant Farmer and there is no doubt that I'll be replacing heels in these socks in the future. The afterthought heel can be pulled out and redone, so it's made for mending.
I don't think I like them quite so much as the socks made the usual way (with traditionally turned heel) but they have the advantage of being flexible and easy to work on: you can knit the whole sock then figure out where the heel should go, and put it in afterwards, and they'll be easy to repair.
I'm just happy that I got them finished before the next round of cold weather arrives. I'm terribly slow at finishing socks!
I don't do socks!! Too much work for the amount of time they survive. Although I did do 3 Christmas stockings with a snowman, a Santa and a Rudoolph, but they have lasted over 35 years now and should be around long after I'm gone. Now those are socks that survive!
ReplyDeleteYou do good worki
Sharon