Saggy Old Lady Socks and Sparkly Purple Shoes

In my autumn stillness, I have been trying to master sock knitting.   Well, perhaps master is a bit of an exaggeration.  Let me re-word that.  I have been doing a lot of practicing.  I have tried knitting socks over the years, but  I would get frustrated because I could never achieve perfection.

Saggy Old Lady Socks

Sock perfection, for me, means one thing.   I want my socks, the socks I knit,  to look like the samples I see hanging in the yarn shops. Whenever I am wandering around in one of these shops, I must go over to these samples, pet them, and then forlornly sigh.  Why can't I make socks that look like those socks?  I examine them to see if the PS (perfect socks) have gusset holes, like my socks inevitably do. But, no, they never do.  There is no old lady sagging at the ankles, no big baggy heels and, get this, each one of the PS always, always, match perfectly. Why, each one is even the same exact size as its mate.

Not The Same Size Socks

So, when I was in high school, back in the day, all girls, that's right ALL girls had to take what they called Home Ec(onomics), which by the way, had nothing to do with economics.  One half of the semester we concentrated on cooking, the other half on sewing.

The cooking part was okay.  In fact to this day, my take away from that class is deviled eggs.  Oh, yes and this lecture:
"Girls, remember, your husband will be happier if you take the time to put some butter on those canned string beans." "You know, it will just be a little more special."
I am not embellishing, it was just one of the many gems passed on from our teacher.

I sucked at the sewing part.  I probably made an apron or something.  I really don't remember.

But, many years later, I took a class, one of those adult evening classes in sewing.  The instructor basically told me that, perhaps I should pursue another hobby.  But I stuck with it and by the end of the class, I had made a lined winter coat for my daughter.  It turned out pretty good, too.

The point of the digression into 1960's nostalgia is that I am tenaciously motivated by a challenge.


About three weeks ago I jumped back in with both feet (or actually two hands and four needles) and made these gigundas.   The snowflake sock is what size these socks should be, if they were to fit me, that is.

Try, try again.  I made these for Bella.  They look a little better, don't they?

That is if you don't look too closely at the heels.  I forgot to make the ridges pattern on the second sock.

I wonder if eight year old Bella will notice.

Nope, I'm not giving up.  But, in the mean time, I bought a pair of sparkly purple shoes, which I hope might deflect attention from my NSPBIWNGUS(not so perfect but I will not give up socks).

Stay tuned for status photos of my pursuit of the PS.

I have created a page for Anna's Diary.  It can be found under the Tab titled Anna's Diary.

I have posted all of the entries to date there, starting with January 1, 1929.

Here are Anna's diary entries from the past three days.

Thurs. October 17, 1929

Charlotte here for laundry.  Went to pick Mary at one, then went to her mother's for the luncheon given by Aluminum Demonstrator.  Home for supper.  Went to bed very early.

Friday October 18, 1929

Went to NY with Elsie and Gladys to buy a coat for Gladys.  Bought a very beautiful black velvet trimmed with gorgeous fox furs.  When we came back went to see "Madam X" all-talking. Good.

Sat. October 19, 1929

Home all day.  Rosalie here until four.  JEan came home around supper.  Junior went to bed early.  Jean told me Bill was home for the week-end from Princeton.  Jean studying. I'm writing.