Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Bamboo Socks


My boyfriend is allergic to wool.
I KNOW! Right? But we have decided to try and make it work anyway.
Just kidding!
But to that end, when I found some nice bamboo yarn at the hardware store, I snapped up a couple balls and brought them home. When he saw them, he joked, "What are you making me?" To which I cheerily replied, "Socks! Bamboo socks!" He was shocked, and flattered, and pleased, and a bit confounded (as am I) that they can make yarn out of bamboo.
I immediately cast on for some toe-up socks. He usually only wears socks while working, so these were specific socks that he can wear up at my house where it is cold. Socks for warmth, socks for comfort, socks because and only because his girlfriend loves him.
The ensuing evenings were spent knitting away, and every now and then grabbing his foot and trying on the sock-in-progress. I was obsessed with his feet: Noticing the slope of the point of his toes, the curve of his long arch, the somewhat narrow heel. When I turned the first heel, he showed the amazement of a new knitter: Awe that this tube could be structured into three dimensions, could hug his heel exactly.
When the first sock was done, he remarked, "I've never had a sock that exactly fit my foot before!" He wore the one sock around the house. (It got a bit stretched out. I don't recommend this, since it makes it difficult to compare progress of the second sock. But who was I to resist? He wanted to wear it around the house! Knitter Pride!)
In the meantime, he went back to the hardware store and bought me two more skeins of bamboo yarn, "Just in case" and of his own violition. Of course I took this as the cry of a knitter-to-be: Muggles (especially MALE muggles!) just don't fondle balls of yarn at the hardware store unless they can sense the magic within, right? He apparently told anyone who asked that his girlfriend was knitting him socks! Out of bamboo yarn! And he needed to make sure she had enough of it!
So of course I taught him to knit: His first project can be seen below, and his second project, a knit cap, is currently being reduced in the crown. (12 rows to go!)
Last Tuesday night I completed his socks. The group was over at my house, and he had quietly taken the chair in the corner to work on his knitcap, while the girls gossiped and knit and compared projects and praised him for his plunge into the knitterly arts. When I was done, I knelt before him and slid his socks onto his feet: Feet I had come to know so well as I wrapped each angle in love and yarn.
What do you think?

Bamboo socks:
Pattern: Made it up. Toe-up, short row heel, bit of ribbing at the top cuff.
Needles: 2 circs: knitpicks #2's.
Yarn: Filati Punto Su Punto Bamboo Color 801 "Earth" Two 50g/ 125m balls plus about 12" of a proffered third.
Began: Sometime last month.
Finished: May First.

3 comments:

bockstark.knits said...

ok wait, you got yarn at a HARDWARE store? What hardware store is this? Great job though, I love the colors! Allergic to wool? GAH!

Unknown said...

Nicely done!

Now to get your local Ace(?) hardware store to carry SWTC yarns for other non-wooly yarns. 'Cause it would be fun to knit your BF a pair in Tofutsies which comes in more colors now, some a bit more manly. Unless, of course, he has shellfish allergy.

Kel said...

Yup: Ace Hardware is also Ben Franklin Crafts. I see the combo as having something for everyone! LOL re: Shellfish allergy! That is too funny!