My 2018 - This is my Hobby: Knitting Wool Socks

I don’t usually take part in contests but when @anomadsoul showed me what he was planning for his contest, and I gave him a couple new questions to add, I kinda had to take part too. But don’t worry, the competition is not rigged, I won’t win, I’m just taking part so I can talk extensively about my dear hobby. If you have a hobby you are passionate about, make sure to participate and have a chance to win a part of that 100 SBD! Make sure to follow the rules to the T!

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I'm gonna start by quoting myself from one of my old posts:

I will do this until my fingers bleed, quite literally. A dent forms in the nail of my left thumb, where it rest against the needle and pushes up the next stitch. Slowly the same needle punctures a hole in my right index finger, after thousands of times pushing it down. The wool yarn runs over my left index finger, and soon cuts through several layers of skin. Yet I enjoy knitting more than anything else.

I love knitting, I do many kinds of items but knitting wool socks is my favourite thing, so I do those the most. I have a huuuuge stash of socks ready if I ever need a new pair for myself or to gift someone.

I started knitting at the young age of 8 years old, with the patient guidance from my mother and grandmother. Knitting used to be taught in schools too but I think it is not mandatory anymore because that would require some actual teaching and learning and that takes time and effort. Handcrafts are an important part of Finnish heritage and I’m so proud that I can keep those traditions alive and thriving in the modern world of fast fashion and bad quality. Without revealing my exact age, I have knitted for more than 15 years, made so many pairs of socks that I have lost count ages ago. I’m gonna call myself an expert in the matter already, but I still have a lot to learn. Knitting is amazing because there is always some new stitch or technique you can learn.

Knitting socks is rather simple when it comes down to the basics; five needles, a ball of yarn and a couple basic stitches. Patience is highly recommended too, something that I definite don’t have much.

One of the favourite aspects for me about knitting is that wool socks are both functional and works of art. I can make a simple black pair, or something with five different colour with patterns on them. It’s sad that I hardy ever remember to photograph my knitting works before they go to their new owner, but I’m gonna add here a random collection of pictures I found from my phones camera roll.

The moose patterns socks I made for my father, because he is a hunter, the red and blue opposite pattern ones are my moms, and so are the blue toned ones too, and the tennis sock inspired went to my old co-worker because she always wears tennis socks. The pink ones went to my god mother and I'm using myself those over knee ones and the red and grey, with white snowflakes. Green with patterns (now finished) and the little grey socks are still in my storage, I think.

Knitting is an amazing hobby, it can be super simple, or you can advance in it for as much as you like. I like to change it up a lot, depending on my mood and who I’m making the socks for. I always design my patterns myself, I hate following guides and doing anything that someone tells me to do. Sometimes that works against me, but it’s also made me very creative and a great problem solver.

Knitting is like meditating for me, I calm down and I forget all nonsense that has been bugging me. If I’m doing something simple, I can watch tv at the same time, and if I’m challenging myself and doing patterns, I like to listen to audio books at the same time. Knitting is also like free writing, when I do colour patterns without designing then in advance, aka almost always. I just pick a colour combination and start coming up with stuff as I go along.

My knitting hobby comes and goes in stages, sometimes I go weeks without doing anything, and when I get to it, I can do it for 8 hours straight. I usually don’t knit in the summertime at all, but as soon as the weather gets colder, I get this itch that I have to dig through my yarn storage for inspiration. I have to admit, I have said no to numerous coffee dates and nights in bars because I’ve been in a middle of an interesting knitting project and a good work flow. I’m a grandma stuck in a body of a teenage (boy).

The tools and materials are cheap if you stick to the bare minimum, but if you want to make a fine sweater or scarf, using angora, mohair or silk mix yarns, it can rank up the price very high. If you are an enthusiast (read: hoarder) like me, you’ll end up having wool yarn enough to make a hundred pairs of socks, just in case! I have to give a shoutout to a Finnish company called Novita, they makes my favourite yarns for wool socks and they have a great colour selection. Mine are stored in two surplus explosive crates from the Finnish army, how’s that for contrast.

People ask me all the time why I don’t sell my knit works, saying that they are so beautiful and I could make good money with them. The “problem” with almost everything hang made, is that the material might be affordable, but the crafting itself takes a lot of time and expertise. For example, the material cost for the most basic, one colour, pair of socks is around 5 euros, but it takes me about 9 hours to make, and mind you, I’m fast. Let’s make a calculation that the work costs a minimum wage of 10€/h, add tax and all that, you’ll end up paying 100€ for socks, how many of you would be willing to pay that? That’s what I thought… I have made socks that have taken me probably closer to 60 hours, those are the over knee ones with cable pattern running along them, made for myself.

That is why I never sell my works, I only gift them. If you want a pair of socks from me, you’ll have to be a close friend or family member. OR you could arrive to my house in the dead of winter without proper mittens or woolen socks and I’d have to dig up a pair for you from my storage before you go back out to the sub zero temperatures. It makes me extremely happy when I get to gift a tailor made pair of socks to a loved one and later see them loving them by wearing them all the time. Some say that the socks are too pretty to wear and I always scold them for it, they are meant to be loved by wearing them! I’ll always make a new pair when they wear out.

Anomadsoul had a funny question at the end of the contest: If you would have to explain your hobby to an alien, how would you do it?

My answer to that would be to put my socks to warm their feet and they wouldn’t care about anything else other than the warm feeling. I could obviously show them the magical way how yarn is looped in continues stitches to make them. They would think that I'm part of some superior breed of humans. _{Which I obviously am, doh!}

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_{Fuck you @anomadsoul for making me write this much, I hate writing! You better read the whole damn story😈 There will be a quiz later on.}