Those don’t look like socks

… says everyone who sees me making Skew socks. I can see why. They don’t, in fact, look much like socks. They don’t look like anything human-shaped. But they are!

I’m knitting my way through Skew, a free pattern you can find over on Knitty. I thought these socks would have some very interesting construction and it turns out that they certainly do. You start out my making the big toe.

Then you make the foot in a classic diagonal knitting fashion (decrease on one edge and increase on the other).

Then begins the inner ankle and “mini gusset”. That is the section I’m on now. That’s where the sock starts to grow this odd protrusion on one side. Turns out that protrusion fits pretty well up against the side of my foot.

If you are ready to start a pair of Skews then I have two heads-up I want to pass on:

• The designer has published several modifications on her own website that you should check out. She has adaptations for high insteps, roomier legs, skinny legs, and so on. She calls it “Skew U”. Ha. Love that snark.

• Speaking of snark, you may have to resort to some yourself if you knit these socks in public. I have. They are so eye catching and so odd-looking that many (manymanymany) people will want to know what you are making. Approximately 99.2% will not believe it is a pair of socks.

When the passer-by, that you will never see again in your life, refuses to believe these are a (future) pair of socks, you could struggle to pull off your cowgirl boots and put the Skews on your feet to prove that, yes they are a (future) pair of socks… or you could just get snarky. Guess you already know which route I’ve been taking.

So when confronted by the non-believer you can take one of these approaches to the encounter:

– Agree. Yes, that was a lie. They are not in fact socks. They are golf club cozies which you are making in handpainted yarn for a very wealthy duffer who has sworn you to secrecy. Thus the sock lie. But we all know how crazy super rich golfers can be so you are just going to keep on telling the sock lie to keep him/her happy.

– Insist that they are socks, just regular plain socks, and that no one should argue with you because you ran out of your meds four days ago.

– Confess that you are just knitting in a random sort of way and you feel like you have to tell people something. In fact the city has a grant program and they pay knitters to sit in public places and knit. Studies show that having a knitter around makes everyone feel more comfortable and its believed that public knitting will reduce neighborhood crime.

Actually I haven’t tried that third fib yet but I think I will. I betcha someone believes it.