my sock drawer, annotated

A post on the lowly sock drawer? We can thank Lorna’s Laces and Susan B Anderson for this post. I caught their posts on this subject in my digital stream and decided, game on! Mine needed a spring stretch, so after organization, I photographed the tidy drawer. All of my socks live in this drawer, I just don’t always fold them so nicely. It often looks like my desk.

Whoops! I didn’t intend for this post to become so detailed… but it has. Enjoy!

Clockwise from upper right. Socks are listed by their pattern name and the designer if applicable, what I tend to call them in my head if they’re no real pattern. Links are either to my Ravelry project page (all should be public) or to posts within this site..

2 pairs of machine knit cotton socks. I wear these when I run.

The next row contains the socks I don’t wear that frequently, either because they’re for a specific thing, or are cotton, or are the very first pair of socks I knitted (I should just frame them), or for one reason or another, just don’t make it into the frequent rotation.

• Holly Golightly by Heather Ordover – I test knit these and while the yarn is a bit bulky for me for every day wear, I find them fun.
• cotton socks
• Seaside by Sara Morris
• second verse – uses the same yarn as ….
• the first pair I began with the intent to follow Ann Budd’s pattern, but it didn’t quite go as planned. For the record, I think this yarn wears like iron, but i really really don’t like the colours!
• simple
• Jeweled Steps by Cat Bordhi – this yarn felted a lot on the bottom of the foot. I don’t really like the colours, but they’re a great pair of socks when we’re working around the house or doing yard work.

Bottom row. These are in the frequent rotation:

• Afterthought Heels by Heather Ordover – I love the fit of these and they were perfect knitting for last summer. The yarn is wearing well, and I like them.
• Solemate socks – I wasn’t sure if the yarn would live up to its hype or price, but it has. I do love these.
• e’s socks – He never wore them so I took them back. Oops? They fit me perfectly.
• Rick by Cookie A
• Pomatomus – these are my absolute favourite socks. I detest yellow. Yes I love these. I don’t rotate them in as frequently now as they’re starting to show wear along some of the yarn-overs.
• Alpaca Discovery Sock by Cat Bordhi – I know this yarn (Berrocco Ultra Alpaca Fine) drives Steve Elkins of Webs nuts, but it’s very warm and they’ve worn very well so I’ll allow it the quirk of being machine washable. I still need to knit that second pair.
• Simple Socks – My sock drawer evidence to the contrary, I really don’t like highly variegated, patterning, or self-striping yarns … but sometimes, yes, it’s nice to just let the yarn do the work. This is a very hard wearing pair. I should really darn the heels (and wish I had knitted them with the included nylon thread for reinforcement) but I still wear them at least once a week.
• Barcelona Socks by Mona Schmidt These were a surprise gift from Sara
• Rushing Rivulet (Riverbed) by Cat Bordhi
• Sock-Ease Discovery Sock by Cat Bordhi
• Monkey by Cookie A
• Jaywalker by Grumperina This yarn has worn incredibly well. I am only now in danger of wearing through them (pretty much everywhere). I think I’ve worn them once a week since I completed them in 2006. Quite fascinating since I detest pink!

The Bin of Anklets: 2007-05 | 2007-07 | 2009-05 | 2011-06 | 2011-08

knee-highs and felted gifts: instant autumn socks | felted | felted (gift from Will) … Felted gifts? With a tiny foot, once a sock for a normal size foot felts, sometimes I can wear them. I find them awesome for the winter when I run around the house and leave my slippers elsewhere.

Not Pictured: Earl Grey by Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee

I’m wearing the pair that Heather knit for me.

Curious what to look for in a sock yarn? You MUST read Clara Parkes’ The Sock Knitter’s Book. I look for well-twisted-multi-ply-wool-blend. Sure, I have some acrylic and some cotton, but it’s the yarns with these characteristics that are tough and I wear frequently. I can’t wait to finish knitting down my sock yarn stash so I can begin to knit all my socks in the colours and yarns I like best. The pretty yarns are reserved for where they can be cherished and not worn so hard.. shawls and cowls are my favourite use of these precious sock yarns.

I machine wash most of the socks (not the Pomatomus pair) and then air dry either just pinning to my drying rack or if they’ve shown too much felting (from my feet, not from my washing machine) I put them on blockers.

And yes, Shadow did try to help.

• Category: handmade
• Tag: knit, knit socks