A Tale of Two Sockies

(I guess this is really a Tale of Two Pairs of Socks or a Tale of Four Socks, but neither of those titles is as punny as the one I picked.)

Our story begins one afternoon in the autumn of 2006. That day, Susann was treating the people in KnittyChat to photos from a German knitting magazine. Among the photos that she was flashing was a photo of the cutest socks ever (click here to see Susann’s version). I admired the socks and told Susann how much I loved them. Susann kindly offered to translate the pattern for me, but I told her no. For as much as I liked the socks, I didn’t think I would knit them. (Yes, I have a great appreciation for handknit socks. I even have a list of socks patterns that I’m considering making because I like them so much. However, my appreciation for socks is not enough to make me knit socks.)

Fast forward a couple of months. Susann, having learned that I was in possession of sock yarn that she really liked, proposed a trade. (Yes, I have sock yarn! It finds it way to me, I can’t help it!) Susann offered to knit me a pair of the cutest socks ever in exchange for sock yarn. What a deal! I accepted her offer immediately. The trade with Susann came on the heels of the greatest trade ever—the trade in which Rachel sent me cashmere laceweight in exchange for a lace shawl. Because of the similarities between the two trades, I told Rachel about the arrangement I had with Susann. Rachel agreed that I had made another great trade.

Susann proceeded to knit the cutest socks ever in the cutest sock yarn colorway ever. Aren’t they adorable? The moment I saw these socks I had an impulse to buy lots of yarn in the same colorway just to have it. (And you know, maybe, if I ever got around to it, perhaps, I could knit socks with the yarn.)

These socks are fantastic in every way. They fit perfectly and just look at how perfectly the stripes match up. Susann did this because she knew how obsessive I am about making my OWN knitting perfect and she felt that she needed to be obsessive with my socks, too. (I didn’t know it was contagious.)

Anyway, around the same time that Susann’s socks arrived, Rachel wrote a post in which she apologized to me for abandoning the Apathetic Sock Knitters Club. In a comment to that post I wrote, “I have to admit that I actually want some wool socks this winter. . . . However, I’m trying to find ways to have socks knit for me rather than having to knit them myself.” I was, of course, referring to the socks that Susann had knit for me. Don’t try to read between the lines, I wasn’t asking Rachel to knit me socks.

But Rachel took it upon herself to knit me socks as a token of our friendship. And what a pair of socks! Purple with pink and CABLES! Happy cables with the cleverest cable transition at the ankles! Rachel knows me too well—picking color and a pattern that I liked without assistance from me. These socks were packaged in a very funny sock sleeve that made me laugh out loud.

I adore both pairs of socks and I bow down to the sock-knitting prowess of both women. I appreciate their kindness and generosity. I will treasure these two pairs of socks forever. Thank you Susann and Rachel for the socks and for being you!

And for those of you who came over here to ogle the person who was slanderously mistreating Rachel, rest assured that all of the teasing that goes on between Rachel and me is good-natured fun done with affection and respect.