Knitting socks can let imagination wander free

Maru Mori brought me/ a pair/ of socks/ which she knitted herself/ … I resisted/ the mad impulse/to put them/ into a golden cage … and give them/birdseed/ and pieces of pink melon. The moral/ of my ode is this:/ … what is good is doubly good/ when it is a matter of two socks/ made of wool/ in winter.

– Pablo Neruda, “Ode to my Socks.”

Handmade socks, knit of wool or cotton, are a kind of poetry. They begin with a vision, require specific materials, skills and tools to create them, and have a predictable shape – like, say, a sonnet, or maybe something more wild, like free verse.

If you are an experienced knitter and have knit socks before, your imagination will lead you to select yarn the color of the sky at sunset, perhaps, or in tones of evergreen tree bark, or colors as bright as a jumble of crayons. Perhaps the yarn will be Irish wool or the softest cotton. Perhaps it will be homespun and dyed.

Your fingers, wielding four needles of smooth wood or bamboo, or maybe the aluminum needles you bought at Woolworth’s back in the 1960s when you were just learning to knit, and which symbolize your history as a knitter, will set into motion the poetry of socks.

Of all the things I’ve ever knit, socks are what I enjoy knitting the most. They are simple enough to allow for long inches of knitting without obstacle, without reading the pattern, without stopping to figure out what happens next. The work simply flows. Yet socks also are challenging enough to make me stop and think as I approach turning the heel and the point where I begin decreasing for the instep gusset. Soon I arrive at that midfoot place, all decreases done, when once again the smooth cadence of knitting leaves me free to think not of the knitting, but of the person whose feet the socks will warm.

Socks have been around a long time and there are many ways of turning the heel and shaping the toe. Visit www.socknitters.com for free sock patterns. You may want to try Deb’s Almost Easy Toe Up Socks, knit from toe to ankle instead of the other way around. You also will find patterns for Not For Skinny Legs Socks, Christopher’s Super Huge Boot Socks, several patterns for basic socks, and directions for short row toes, star shaped toes and standard toes. Patterns and information about knitting socks also are available at www.knittinggeek.com and www.nettally.com.

I have knit socks for my sons and grandson. Currently I am knitting a pair for someone who shall remain nameless until after the holiday season. But I never have knit socks for myself. Maybe I’ll put that on my list of New Year’s resolutions. I would like a pair done in Regia yarn, which makes an Aran Isle pattern all on its own as you knit. I would love to meet the engineer who crunched the numbers to figure out how to make the yarn do that.

Nobody should be without at least one pair of hand-knit socks. I have several pairs thanks to my sister, Nancy, who before her death seven years ago, kept our family warm footed with the socks she knit. This is my ode to her:

My sister knit socks

woolly-warm for our cold feet:

she knew what love is.

Snippets

Publisher Martingale and Co. is sponsoring a sock-making contest for crocheters. Sock designs must be based on or inspired by patterns in the book “Crocheted Socks.” First, second and third prizes are Martingale gift certificates for $300, $200 and $100, respectively, plus a gift basket. A $100 Martingale gift certificate and gift basket also will be awarded for the most outrageous socks. The gift baskets will contain items provided by Brown Sheep Co., Crystal Palace, Fibertrends, Mountain Colors Yarn, Sock It to Me and Unicorn Books and Crafts. The contest runs until Jan. 20. Download an entry form at www.martingale-pub.com. Winners will be announced online Jan. 31.

Ardeana Hamlin welcomes comments, suggestions and ideas. Call her at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.