boring grey man socks

Thom usually gets the short end of the stick when it comes to gift knitting. His father has as many of my handknits as Thom does.

I've tried to rectify this situation, but Thom insists that he doesn't want a sweater right now. I already knit him a hat and mittens, and he says that one set is plenty. Although he would like me to line his mittens with polarfleece. Somehow, Lopi Lite knit at 21 sts/4 in (much tighter than the recommended 17 sts/4 in) still lets the wind through.

He has one pair of thick socks that he wears with boots and clogs. He thought he might like another pair, a lighter weight pair that he can wear to work. So, we went sock yarn shopping at Webs. (Reluctantly, I might add!)

This is what he picked ... a tweedy charcoal grey Regia. Here is the label -- I think this means "4-ply tweed".


I also bought 2 cards of a grey reinforcing thread to knit into the toes and heels. The one toe that I knit so far seems to be really sturdy -- I hope still comfortable, though!

Also shown are my new Stitch Keepers -- a birthday gift to myself. I love them! They slip over the ends of the needle and perform three important functions --
1) keeping the stitches from sliding off the needle when you put the WIP down, especially when in a bag
2) keeping the set of needles together, including the one "working" needle that often escapes when you put a project down
3) preventing the "porcupine effect" -- when your WIP has needles poking out everywhere, and poking holes in your bag!

I've started the second sock too, so that I can knit both together. However, I keep messing it up. The first one was too small. The second one, I wasn't paying attention and cast on too many stitches. The third time, I missed a wrapped stitch on the short rows and was off by one stitch. Hopefully, the 4th time I will pay more attention!