Knitting Tales: Sock Monster Rocks!

I am SO glad that I've been an obsessive sock knitter this year, in spite of the rather extreme amount of mocking comments thrown at my poor yarn-obsessed head on occasion.

The Fabulous Susan was a bit cagey in her reaction to the beautiful mittens I made for her Christmas Present. I think she's afraid that they might be impractical for New York, where they are likely to get grungy and need the occasional cleaning. She may be right. But they're so pretty and soft and warm...

Anyway, she came to visit on Wednesday night. The two of us were about to embark on our traditional dessert-and-chai/espresso coze at Cafe Latte, followed by the yearly tour of the Holiday lights on Summit Avenue and surrounding area. It's a tradition that we both look forward to, and which never fails to charm.

On this particular occasion, however, she looked rather pained when she entered our house and took off her boots for a pre-tour visit with the Vampire and the Pirate. When asked for the reason for her grimace, she admitted that her new boots were a bit too snug for the thick padded Vikings socks she was sporting.

Now, you have to understand that the Fabulous Susan is a Theater Person, and that her fashion sense runs to the colorful and sparkly end of the spectrum. Her Christmas Outfits are a wonder to behold (although you shouldn't look at them too directly for too long - retinas are a valuable commodity that shouldn't be wasted). She would rather amputate her feet than wear plain white or dark-colored socks. So the suggestion that I give her a new, thinner set of replacement socks was initially met with a frown and a polite demur.

But wait! The Sock Monster would not be denied... and in this case, she was Oh So Clever. Because right there (next to The Basket) she had a whole bag FULL of socks. Colorful, patterned, warm woolen socks, not yet worn by human feet and most of them much thinner than the padded Vikings socks. Would the Fabulous Susan like a pair?

The Fabulous Susan looked dubious. She knew that the Sock Monster's taste in clothing is tamer than her own (not compared to the clothes of the Sock Monster's family and friends, but everything is relative). We knew what she was thinking - wouldn't those socks be too dull for the Fabulous Susan's tastes?

The Sock Monster laughed triumphantly, and pulled out a pair of socks knitted primarily of the leftover yarn from her grand-sortofnephew's baby set, but finished at the toe with some very bright purple and blue and pink yarn (the Sock Monster didn't have enough of either yarn to make a pair of socks, so what the heck, she was in a frivolous mood).

There was nothing cagey about the Fabulous Susan's reactions to those socks. Clearly the Fates had known that this very moment would arrive, and had inspired me with divine madness on the Fabulous Susan's behalf. She LOVED those socks. They were warm. They were byoo-tee-full. They were thin enough to fit into those boots.

The Sock Monster is very smug. She's not taking any guff from the Vampire and the Pirate. After all, she's too busy.

She's knitting another sock.