my socks.

These are supposed to be really hard wearing - at least I hope so. I've made them from Romney wool. There are quite a few dyes in them - cochineal, onion skins, brazilwood, Sticta coronata, Eucalyptus nicholi. I've made the heels detachable (see below) so they can be reknitted should they wear out in the distant future.





When I first tried knitting socks all I could find in a 3-ply was baby wool. This is most unsuitable for socks and goes into holes in no time. Fortunately I found a pattern for socks with Aladdin heels in an old Patons Woolcraft book. So that's the design I used and I've been reknitting them ever since. In case you're not familiar with the idea, the heel is kept detachable by grafting with a contrasting thread when returning to knit the main sock. When the heel wears through, you remove the thread - here a white thread - detach the heel, unpick it or cut it off, knit it again (I am doubling the thickness as I do this) and graft it back to the sock. It looks like new and there are no bulky darns. You can do this with most sock patterns.


The problem


Unpicked and ready to reknit


A different sock reknitted and grafted. It just needs the sides to be sewed up.


The first sock finished.