Thursday 19 February 2009

A Parade of Dad Socks



A parade of Dad socks is less colourful than most sock parades - but it is every bit as satisfying.

These are winging their way to my dad now and I hope they keep his toes toasty. Particularly because as far as I can tell it has snowed pretty much every day in New Brunswick since winter began (possibly before).



The grey socks are the Retro Rib socks from Favourite Socks. The yarn is a brand called St Ives which I've never used before. It knit up nicely and feels soft enough.

The blue socks are Regia yarn 4 ply, and a sort of faded denim blue colour in real life. They are a simplified variation of the Retro Rib.

The final pair are also Regia - but in this case the yarn is a 6ply (DK weight) self patterning one which is ideal for knitting up into a plain stockinette stitch pair of socks.

As I do with pretty much any knitted gift I finished the socks off with some custom labels before I sent them off.

I love these labels. They often get as many ooohs and ahhs as the knitting and I think they help make the socks look that little bit more special.

Labels are a great opportunity to pimp your knitting (I often use the back of the label to highlight the number of stitches, or the special qualities of the yarn or why I selected the pattern or...) and it's a great place to give some handy advice on care and washing.


I use postcard (4x6 inch) paper which works well folded over and tied to the socks with a thin ribbon. Rymans has A4 card paper that is perforated and separates into 3 postcards (they have a handy word template that helps with layout) and I use that, or if I only want a single label I use 6x4 inch photo paper/printing. I've also just seen some business card size paper that would be great for smaller labels.



6 Quirks of Soo

I was tagged by Sue to come up with 6 quirky but uninteresting facts about me. I have done this one once before -- but am pleased to report that my life is full of uninteresting things so an encore wasn't much of a stretch.

So here we go!

1) My name is Susan, and I have no problem at all with people shortening my name to 'Sue' when talking to or about me. But it makes me feel sort of ooky (for no reason that makes any sense) seeing my name written as 'Sue' (particularly when written with my last name). It's Susan (at work or on any document) or Soo (everywhere else).

Irrational and quirky. Does this count for 2?

2) I adopted Soo as the spelling of my shortened name when I was about 13 years old. Friends came up with it while writing epic poems about me which generally went something like this:
I have a friend named Soo
We went to the zoo
To watch cows go moo
Do yoo
Want to come too?

3) When I was in grade 3 I won 3rd prize (25 bucks! and a pen) in a short story competition at the Canadian National Exhibition. My short story was a feminist tale of a couple of boys who are shown up by a girl they tried to exclude from their tree house club.

4) I am annoyingly punctual. Even when I'm meeting someone who I KNOW will be late, I have to be there on time (generally a bit early)(just to be sure) in case they do turn up on time.

5) Conversely I have little patience for people who are habitually late. And I can get very cross when the start of a meeting or other event is held up while we wait for the people who couldn't be bothered to get there on time. (And it is always the same people.)

6) I like to knit. (I know I've shared this quirk with you before. But it's a biggie.)

I challenge you all to come up with 6 less interesting facts about yourself.

10 comments:

fleegle said...

You like to knit? I never would have guessed!

My name is Susan too, but I loathe being called Sue, no matter how it's spelled. Only my father was allowed to do that.

And alas, I have no Dad anymore to knit socks for. The last pair I made him was a lovely pair of laceweight blue cashmere. We sent him a single sock as a joke...and he called to tell us he was going into the hospital the next day. Why? He was having one foot amputated, because clearly, I did not understand the concept of "a pair." We sent him the second sock by Fedex :)

And yours are perfect Dad socks, especially with all that snow!

florencemary said...

Sooper socks for Daddy! How lovely of you as a daughter to knit him 3 sets!

Hmm, 6 quirks of Soo? I'm with you on the punctuality thing; so blinking annoying when people are late!

clarabellex

ps Myrtle Leaf is gorge! and I'm so into black atm!

The Caked Crusader said...

Wow, you went to a better class of school than me. I can assure you every member of my school's first rhyme for "Soo" would not have been zoo, moo, too or you.

Opal said...

those are very handsome socks!

i really love the story behind the name. it's so sweet! :)

the Lady said...

Cool labels! And what a lucky dad, to get three pairs all at once! I wish I could knock em out like that!
We better not ever meet up for tea, I am definitely more on French or Italian time than American or Canadian time!

the Lady said...

P.S. - I just made a sock with the Noro Silk Garden Sock, and if your dad likes stripes, this could be a really fun yarn for you to use! I split the ball in half and used a different color to start with each, and am manually striping the yarn. It's making a really nice fabric, I imagine it would be nice for those cold Canadian Winters - wool, silk, mohair and some nylon too. Hardy, yet warm and soft, and fun for the knitter. My boyfriend is interested in a pair for himself, and he's hard to please (usually likes colors that bore me as a knitter.)

Anonymous said...

Dyl doubts that Mamie will let Grampie wear his new socks, that they will go in her sock drawer to be taken out only to show to company! Soo's sister Kim

LittleBerry said...

Love the socks and I'm sure your dad will be thrilled at gettign 3 pairs...

My name is Ann and I detest it being lengthened to Annie...

cici said...

Lovely post. The socks look great and Daddy is a man man to get them and have a nice daughter such as you♥ The labels are such a nice touch♥ and a great idea. I loved your Soo poem. I like being punctual too♥

Business Cards Online said...

I love the socks idea! They're really unique. And hey, the 6 less interesting things about yourself is a good idea. I'll come up with them then come back to this post to post them.
Nice post!