Silly Socks

It doesn't get too cold here. But it does get cold. In fact the longer we live here, the colder it seems to get in the winter. Not to mention the entire first floor of our house is a concrete slab covered by ceramic tiles. Those puppies stay cold. That's what makes them so great in the summer when the outside temperature is 115 degrees and climbing. They keep their chill in the air conditioned atmosphere, bringing down our cooling costs. Yeah. They're great in the summer. But not so much the winter.

In the winter the tiles never really warm up. We huddle under blankets despite having the heat on because that edge of chill never leaves the air. Thank goodness the winter only lasts a few short months (it was already over 70 the other day).

In a fit of knitting insanity I decided that Sweet Pea needed socks to cover her feet and protect her tiny bones from the chill. Never mind the sheer lunacy of putting a toddler (who lives in a house with slippery tiles as the main flooring) in socks. Never mind the fact that every single one of my children have inherited my ability to trip over my own shadow. (Thank goodness The Greatest finds it endearing). Never mind the fact that my child is actually a nudist, consenting to wear only the bare minimum of clothing. She would rather die than put on a sweater or socks.

I've got an amazing ability to ignore the obvious and go with the impractical.

So knit socks I did.

Pattern: Socks for Mary Janes pattern offered as a free Ravelry Download

Yarn: Socks that Rock, and a discontinued Knitpicks line

Needles: Size 2 circs for magic loop

Modifications: Only the obvious one

Review: Alright, lets get this out of the way first: HOW CUTE ARE HER CHUBBY LITTLE KNEES? *whew* It's good to get that out of my system. I just wanna squeeze those chubby knees. TICKLE THEM AND SQUEEZE THEM. *sigh* Sorry, NOW, I think it's all out of my system. We can move on to the socks.

Just a simple sock pattern with some pretty lace detail. I was using a left over ball of pink sock yarn I found in my stash. I decided her feet were still on the smallish size (at age 2 the kid wears a size 7 shoe, smallish is a relative term). They should only need a smallish amount of yarn to make some socks right?

Not so much.

As I approached the toe of the second sock I realized this was going to end badly. I had a few options

1) order more yarn.

Ummm...no. I wasn't going to order a $20 skein of yarn to knit an inch of sock for a child who will out grow said sock in roughly 4 days.

2) Bind it off and call them pedicure socks.

I considered this. The child in question is after all the girliest of girly girls who insists on having her toes painted on a daily basis. But then I would have to rip the toe out of the already completed first sock so they would match, and that seemed like a lot of work.

3) Knit the toe with something else.

This seemed like a solid plan. Just finish knitting the sock with something else, anything else. I grabbed another smallish ball of yarn and knit a contrasting toe.

And fell in love!

How cute are these socks!

But my girl can't wear just one pair of socks all winter long! She changes her clothes a minimum of three times a day. What makes me think she would be content wearing the same socks for longer than ten minutes? So another pair of socks it is.

Pattern: No pattern, just basic ankle socks based on her foot measurements

Yarn: No idea, it was left over from these

Needles: Size 2

Modifications: None, it's my personal sock recipe

Review: Oh my goodness! Those knees are so chubby I wanna chew on them! NOM NOM NOM NOM NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

I apologise. I swear. I'm really done now.

So I guess that after I make a pair of socks I have enough yarn left over for 1.75 toddles socks. That's alright. I'm kinda loving the silly toe. I'm contemplating purposefully knitting a mismatched toe in all my future socks. Some of my friends, who have beheld the cuteness that is the silly toe, have suggested I start a Silly Toes Ravelry group and start a sock revolution! Knitters everywhere will create pairs of socks with one mismatched toe. Matching socks will be so passe. Yarn manufacturers will start including a small skein of contrasting yarn with each skein of sock yarn. Sock knitting will never be the same again!

I'm not sure if I'm ready to lead a revolution, but I am knitting a pair of toddler monkeys.

I wonder what color I'll knit the toe...