I think you might already know this but I learned to knit socks so that I would have something to do at our Civil War reenactments. This was back in 2001 and the sock pattern I was using was from the Atlantic Guard Soldiers’ Aid Society. Back then, they recommended using worsted weight yarn and size 5 needles and truthfully, that was a wonderful way to learn to knit socks. Everything was big enough that I could actually see what I was doing and the learning curve was swift. Unfortunately, I knit that first pair from Lopi and Dale wouldn’t wear ’em because they were too scratchy.

I’ve knit loads of socks since then, including several pair for Dale following that worsted weight pattern, but the one thing I’ve never knit for him is a pair of socks with sock weight yarn.

Until now, that is.

The pattern is Garter Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks. 72 stitches with a 7 inch leg and a 10.5 inch long foot. They took nearly 3 weeks and my usual time for a pair of socks is 2 weeks. You wouldn’t think those few extra stitches and inches would make that much of a difference but “man socks” really do take longer.

The yarn is Claudia’s Handpaint in the colorway “Boot Camp” and I purchased it from Sheri at the Loopy Ewe. I used 2 skeins of the Claudia’s plus part of a skein of Lorna’s Laces in Chocolate. I really like the way those contrasting heels and toes look, even if it did mean having a few extra ends to weave in.

I had a 3rd skein of the Boot Camp yarn for justincase but I didn’t need it. I came pretty close, though.

I was originally going to keep these a secret from Dale but that’s kind of hard to do when you’re sitting next to each other on the couch. And he takes a pretty active interest in my knitting so of course he asked who they were for and I couldn’t lie to him. He’ll have to wait until his birthday at the end of the month to get them, though.

You know, he’s getting pretty old. Maybe he’ll have forgotten about them by then.