Fat Socks

Way back when I was a lot younger and more athletic I would go skiing with my family.  One of the best things about skiing was that afterwards I could take my ski boots off and put my poor tired feet into something big and sloppy.  Apres ski boots were never in my wardrobe but over sized socks worked for me.


Flash forward more years than I care to count, and I now live in Houston which is many hours of hard driving from any ski slopes.  The only thing that remains is that in the winter my feet get cold and tired and that walking on cold tile floors does not make them feel any better. 


House slippers are okay but want I really want are over sized, sloppy wool socks.  Try to find ill fitting scratchy socks in the stores and they will ship you off to the funny farm.


Enter the Twisted Yarns sale bins.  A couple of months ago I spotted two large balls of something called Classic Worsted Tapestry yarn from Universal Yarns.  The color I found was China Blue which is wonderful mix of blues, creams and golden yellow.  With my imagination running wild, I bought two balls and decided to make bulky socks using one ball per foot.


After a few weeks this is how they came out:

Yes, they are big over sized wool socks but they look pretty awful with that lazy squared off toe.


Light bulb moment...why not felt them? They would still be bulky wool socks but maybe they would look a little better.


Into the washing machine and dryer they went and this is how they came out:

Not very different from the before picture!


What was going on here....


It turns out that your intrepid knitter had not read the label on the skeins of yarn.  Classic Worsted Tapestry is not a 100% wool yarn.  I had imagined that.  It is really a 75% acrylic yarn with 25% wool thrown into make you think it is really wool..BUT IT IS NOT! 


I still love my socks and their over sized scratchiness but I have learned a big lesson here:


READ THE LABEL... not just the name of the yarn BUT THE WHOLE LABEL!  Read it once when buying the yarn, again when you get it home and again when you are considering what to do with it.


Then you might not be in the position I will be in when I show them at the knitting guild meetings this month where I will have to confess that I cannot read and that yarn with any acrylic in it will not felt.


I think I am now ready for winter...sloppy house socks, small shawls/scarves and ear warmers.  If I get down to really knitting I will even finish the sweater I started two years ago for the complete homemade look.


OR maybe I should try mittens before I finish that sweater?