Now that I’m obsessed with knitting, I always have a project with me and often take it out to knit a few rows while I’m drinking a coffee, waiting for Jesse to leave work, volunteering at the National Park Visitor Center, or the like. People walk up to me or look over my shoulder to see what I’m working on and I get compliments here and there. When they discover I’ve only been knitting for a few months, I often get one of the two following questions: 1. Have you ever felted? (I guess it’s all the rave right now.) 2. Have you ever made socks?

My answers are as follows: I am currently knitting a tote bag which I will felt, but it’s one of those projects I only work on when I don’t have to count stitches or concentrate on a pattern. As for the other question, my answer is ‘no’, and I figured it would probably always be ‘no’ because I have such a disdain for socks.

I was one of those kids who grew up running around barefoot most of the time and lived in Florida for over 10 years where flip flops are the norm. I even went to my prom in a big flouncy $300 dress and a pair of matching flip flops on my feet. My toes just really like to wiggle and to feel things like grass and sand and to be able to breathe and be free. Socks are generally ugly and they itch and make my ankles hot and leave wooly bits between my toes. Don’t get me wrong; I’ll wear socks when necessary, but with a degree of reluctance. I understand they’re useful for keeping blisters away when hiking and for keeping my shoes from getting smelly.

So, I reiterate, I would probably not ever knit myself a pair of socks.

Well….this was how I felt until I saw these magnificent foot gloves.

They are what I imagine a mermaid’s feet would look like if she didn’t have fins instead. The pattern that these socks were based on is in the Interweave Knits book Favorite Socks and when I flipped through it at knit night this week, I discovered there were many other patterns for beautiful socks.

I could grow to like socks….if they could all make me look like I have mermaid feet.