Monday, March 15, 2010

Mittens and socks

There's a discussion on the Ravelry A4A group that I thought I'd bring over here. The report on the 72 boxes certainly shows a lot more mittens - 500 pairs more - than socks. Of course each cozy garment is wonderful warming gift, but I wonder -- does A 4 A want us knitting more socks?

Here’s the count of items for children, ages 7-14 years: 633 sweaters 600 vests, 800 pairs of socks 1,320 pairs of mittens 1,050 hats 132 blankets
4,535 Total garments and blankets (for next winter 2010)

Elizabeth's wonderful tutorial would be great for any sock beginner. Socks are my favorite thing to knit -- I do them two a time on magic loop, with a Fleegle heel and a quick beaded ribbing cuff.

3 comments:

Afghan Ann said...

We can never have too many socks. You can imagine that a pair of wool socks would span more months of use than mittens. Afghan custom is to remove shoes when indoors (with no or little heat source) -- so socks could be worn indoors. Often times these kids have only plastic sandals to wear -- we know this from Marianne's trips and Marsha's trip. See our photo gallery where Marsha personally carried 500 pairs of socks for students in 2007 (5th gallery down) --
http://www.afghansforafghans.org/afghanistanphotos.html

Glad you love knitting socks, Kathy! Of course, not everyone knits socks, but for those that do -- please don't worry that we might get too many.
Thanks, Ann

Judy said...

OK-- I am finishing up a pair of mittens - but I will cast on some socks next. I knit my husband's socks, so I have lots of practice. The good news is that the kids like brighter colors than he does - his are sort of boring.

mittknitter said...

When I knit a pair of socks for someone in my family, I usually use a sock yarn that has some nylon (or other synthetic fibre) in it to increase wear. I've noticed that a lot of the socks for A4A are worked in worsted or DK/sport weight yarn. Do the powers that be prefer that something be added to these 100% wool yarns to increase wear? If so, what do most people use? Or do the 100% wool yarns in the heavier weights wear well enough to use on their own?

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