Reproduction knitting*

Published on Saturday April 12th, 2008

Mr. Garter has long had a Favorite Sock. It was given to him roughly five years ago, and he pronounced it the finest sock in the land and measured all other socks against it. Meanwhile, he rejected offers of handknit socks from his fiancée-wife. Notice I speak of the übersock in the singular: it lost its mate after only a few wearings, but could never been thrown out because of its peerlessness. It moved with us from one apartment to another in Manhattan and then to Portland. I think it was before that last move, when we were admitting to each other the stupidity of carting around a seven-quart stock pot’s worth of single socks (although they’re useful in packing: you can stuff box corners with them or even dress your drinking glasses in them), that I finally took a careful look at the übersock and realized that I could knit it a mate. It was machine knit, but I had to turn it inside out and find a sewn seam at the toe to tell. It has a nice tubular cast on and short-row heels and toes, but it’s a pretty basic ribbed wool sock. So we kept it.

Fast forward to the fall of 2007. I finally stumbled across a tweed sock yarn that was a decent match (I hadn’t been looking all that hard): Regia Tweed 4-Ply. I bought some in a creamy white and a horsey brown, counted stitches on the original and made a guess at the needle size, and was off and knitting in plenty of time to finish my reproduction sock for Mr. G’s birthday at the end of November. I gave it to him, but hadn’t woven in the ends because I wanted to make sure it fit comfortably. It did. He was delighted.

So this week I wove in the ends.

repro_socks.jpg

Ãœbersock at left, reproduction at right. Look, it’s got cat hair on it already.

repro_egyptian.jpg

Mr. G can walk like an Egyptian…

repro_ballet.jpg

… and can almost still twist himself into a reasonable first position. Remind me to tell you sometime about how he took ballet with eight-year-old girls when we were in college. (I guess I just did.) I love a sense of adventure in a man, don’t you?

repro_sunshine.jpg

He’s already worn them three times.

* The kind of reproduction that doesn’t involve making babies. I didn’t even think of that sense of the word until I’d already posted this, dudes.

18 Comments to “Reproduction knitting*”

  1. rebecca Comment Says:

    Perfect! Now did you make a spare in case another was lost?

  2. Lisa Comment Says:

    Wow – you really made a faithful reproduction! Mr. Garter is lucky to have such an awesome knitter for a wife!

  3. Stephen Comment Says:

    I really like those socks! The ribbing and the tweed are fantastic.

  4. mia Comment Says:

    not sure if I knew the story about Mr. G taking ballet while in college, but somehow am not surprised! You guys are too cute. The sock is fantastic.

  5. schrodinger Comment Says:

    Impressive, and successful, reproduction. Congrats!

  6. Sarah Comment Says:

    I love those socks! I am loving tweed yarns lately anyway. They are very nice socks though.

  7. Karen Comment Says:

    Excellent reproduction! Mr. Garter is indeed lucky to have you!

  8. Karma Comment Says:

    I’m sure he’s chuffed with his single sock; it’s virtually impossible to tell which is which!

  9. britt Comment Says:

    they are fabulous. no comment on the length of time to weave in ends. 🙂

  10. gleek Comment Says:

    wow, you did a great job of duplicating that sock!! i’m sure mr g loves having two socks now 🙂

  11. Katie Comment Says:

    That is an awesome match. Good work with the reproduction.

  12. Jen Comment Says:

    Wow what a great match! How nice to have a hubby that can appreciate the awesomeness of great socks. 🙂

  13. Debby Comment Says:

    Mr. G must be so glad to be able to wear his favorite sock again, with a new and improved mate. Has he now asked for you to recreate other socks for those in the stockpot? I guess that is one great way to end-run the single sock syndrome, when you have a bunch of single socks already in need of mates.

  14. Seanna Lea Comment Says:

    Those are great!

    I want to make my hubby more socks, but he just wasn’t as careful as I would have liked with the first pair. He let our cat claw at his feet when he was wearing them until they developed holes and tears in the bottoms. I still haven’t brought myself to darn them.

  15. craptina Comment Says:

    an excellent mate! I’m glad Mr. G has another perfect pair 🙂

  16. whitney Comment Says:

    Wow, what a fantastic job you did of reproducing the beloved sock! It looks great, and I can hardly tell which one is which.

    If my husband attempted first position, he’d probably hurt himself!

  17. kbomb Comment Says:

    Amazing how you got the colors almost spot on!

    I had a hard time telling which was the original. great job!

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