Christmas Socks

I have decided that I do not like Christmas knitting. There is too much stress and pressure, and I'm tempted to make gifts that I know I can complete on a deadline rather than gifts I think the recipients will like. This year though, I was stumped on what would be the perfect gift for my Grandpa. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that he would probably like some knit socks. In mid-November I accepted that the idea was stuck in my head and nothing else was going to seem like as good of a gift. I cast on some basic socks and spent every knitting moment I had working on them. These were my couch and subway projects. I even lost a DPN to the subway tracks in all of the frantic knitting. I knit through my lunch breaks at work. I wouldn't let myself sleep at all during our cross country trip to and from Thanksgiving with Hubby's family because it was prime knitting time. (Fortunately that meant I was awake for a delightful History Channel special on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.)

I decided to knit these from the toe up. I knit the first leg as short as I thought I could get away with and left the stitches live on some scrap yarn. When I finished up the second one, I assessed my time and decided they both would get another inch and a half on the length of the legs. Hubby has never had a problem with the legs of his socks, but he must like them short. Both his dad and brother commented that theirs were too short. Despite Grandpa having smaller feet than Hubby, they still seemed to be some crazy long socks that went on forever. I did finish them on time though. Two hours into our train ride to Chicago all of the ends were woven in and everything was complete. I had hoped to block them, but I wasn't certain my family would be ok with the guest room smelling like wet wool. (They are not the converts that I am.) Grandpa seemed to like them, but Grammy was definitely giving them an envious look. Unfortunately, despite all of that buildup, I do not have a good FO picture to share, so instead I have this picture that Hubby took of the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. I hope your holidays were great. Happy New Year!