12-Step Program for Sock Knitters - Step 12

Step 12 – It is Okay to be Selfish.

Now we can all admit it. We make scarves and hats and mittens and even sweaters for other people, but we make socks for ourselves (or a loved one or two).

My Neko Socks - The only way
I can get him to cuddle with me.

Pattern by Donna Druchunas in Kitty Knits

Since socks are more time-consuming than hats or scarves, giving them as gifts must be done carefully. You don’t want to give away a pair of socks to someone who will either not wear them, or will treat them badly such as throwing into a load of wash with their kids’ grass-stained tube socks.

Do you just hate it when you sit down on the train or the bus only to see the person next to you has the exact same pair of socks?  When you make your own socks, that never happens. No one else has an pair of socks just like the ones you have on your feet right now. 

I think my biggest problem is not with socks, but rather with shoes. We go to all this trouble to make lacy or cabled or ribbed socks in beautiful colors in soft, warm yarns, and then we stick those in a smelly old shoe? I've seen clear plastic clogs to show off socks, but those don't seem practical either. Yes, I have cute loafers and a nice pair of Mary Jane shoes, but it still seems like a waste. 

So I have come to the conclusion of my 12-Step Program for Sock Addiction. I now realize that I did not cure anyone's addiction to sock knitting (nor did I really want to), but rather enabled you to carry on. Put those needles to yarn, add your yarn overs and slip, slip knits, master the kitchener stitch, and weave in those ends. Winter is coming. Make your toes happy.

So until I get hit with another subject to blog about, it's back to the needles.