My First Socks

Last New Year's I made a list of skills I would like to learn in the year ahead. One of the projects I had hoped to tackle was learning to knit socks. I looked at a few sock patterns and was somewhat intimidated by the idea of creating a heel. To me it was a mystery how a heel could be knitted so neatly and comfortably.

In October I entered a contest hosted by Emily of Emmy Couture, she generously offered two skeins of her hand dyed sock weight yarn to the winner. I was thrilled when I found out I was the winner! When the yarn arrived I felt more inspired than ever to knit my first pair of socks. Adam was also quite pleased with the skein of Forest yarn and suggested that it was the perfect yarn for him. : )

I decided I would try to knit a pair of socks for Adam as a special Christmas surprise. Usually I knit in the evenings after dinner, but since this was meant to be a surprise I worked on the socks only during the day while Adam was at work. It was often difficult to find time during the day and progress was slow.

One day leading up to Christmas Jemimah and I had spent an especially fun day together baking cookies and then watching the 1940's "Little Women" while I knitted. That evening Jemimah decided to pray over our meal. Her sweet prayer outlined all that she was grateful for that day, "Thank you Lord that mama and I made cookies, thank you that we watched "Little Women" and thank you that mama is knitting socks for papa.". Adam and I both looked at each other, and then began to laugh! The secret was out, so I decided to show him my progress and test the fit. It was actually a blessing to have some extra time to finish the socks and know that they would fit after all of my work.

Adam is quite pleased with his new socks. The yarn is so soft and was a pleasure to knit. The color variation is subtle, but beautiful! The second skein of yarn from Emily is a lovely combination of purples and gray. I am hoping to use that yarn to knit socks for myself.

At times the knitting process was a little challenging, but not nearly as difficult as I had feared. The pattern I selected was free and very easy to follow. The pattern also featured different variations of the design to assist the beginner. I also watched this video twice. It was extremely helpful in learning how to knit the heel. The second sock went much faster than the first, however both socks have their fair share of mistakes. Overall they are cozy and Adam doesn't seem to notice the mistakes, so I am happy to have added socks to my list of knitting accomplishments. : )

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!" Isaiah 52:7