A Year of Sock Pals!

November 2021 Update: Unfortunately, the next round of sock pals has been postponed indefinitely due to the sudden retirement of the majority owner of Knit 1. I'm so sad that we won't get to do another session, but it was fun while it lasted!

Popping back in to talk about a subject that has always been near and dear to my heart (even if I don't get to do it as often as I like) - sock knitting! I used to knit socks obsessively, and almost exclusively. But as the years went on, issues with my hands (and golfer's elbow?!) severely limited my ability to knit socks without pain. So for a while, I just didn't make them. And it was a bummer!

But then my brilliant friend Allyson, co-owner of Knit 1 Chicago, came up with a brilliant plan: Sock Pals! Think of it like a pen pal, but with sock knitting. Sock Pals is a combination of a knit-along & sock swap. You get to pick the yarn color and pattern you want to keep for yourself, and then you get matched up with a mystery sock pal who will knit your second sock for you, while you knit theirs to send back to them. And then you get to open your matching sock during a zoom party where the identity of your sock pal is revealed - it's super fun!

I've participated in all 3 sessions, and have signed up for another one to round out a year of Sock Pal knitting. So far, I've received lovely second socks that looks pretty darn close to the one I knit for myself! And if you're extremely worried about sock size discrepancies, you can always wait to make your own sock til you get the one your pal knitted for you.

So, what kind of socks do we make with Sock Pals? Here are all the socks I've made (and received) so far:

In the first session of Sock Pals last fall, we knit Little Boxes (above left) & Scalloped Ribs (above right).

For the second session of Sock Pals in the spring of this year, we knit the Luminary Socks (above) and the Everyday Socks (below).

For the third round of Sock Pals over the summer, we knitted the Mermaid Avenue socks (above) and the Doro Socks (below).

Signups are currently open for the fourth round of Sock Pals - click here to join us and maybe you'll be my sock pal!

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