Because Her Foot Was Cold

I have a rule: I only make socks for myself. Everyone else's feet are too big.

The only time I broke this rule was when I gave a pair of socks to Ontie for reaching her Weight Watcher's goal. (Also, we have the same size feet, so it wasn't any added work.)

However, I recently broke the rule again for Blondie, whose feet are at least 3 sizes larger than mine. Why? Simple. Her foot was cold.

I was knitting on the sectional in our family room (surprise surprise), while Blondie played Guitar Hero barefoot. I was finishing up the Iris socks. (Plain vanilla sock pattern: 2X rib with a short row heel.) I had completed one of the socks, and had it sitting on the back of the couch for comparison with the mostly done sock. (I always size the first sock off of my actual foot, and then size the second one off of the first.) Blondie asked what I was working on. I told her a sock, and held up the in progress needles. She looked at it quizzically. (Which wasn't surprising since a sock in progress on two circulars IS pretty confusing to non-knitters.) I then tossed the finished sock to her so that she could see the end result. She was impressed, and then promptly pulled it on her foot.

I was shocked. It fit! It seems that though Blondie's feet are WAY longer than mine, they are also incredibly narrow. I have really short feet, but they are incredibly wide. So, the total area of our feet is identical, just the dimensions are different. She asked if she could leave it on, because her foot was cold. I said sure. (She looked adorable with one sock on and one sock off, and even at one point switched it to the other foot.)

When I finished the second sock, I looked at the pair. Blondie's feet, being longer than mine, had changed the shape of the original sock. I thought about it, remembered how much she had liked the sock, reminded myself that I hadn't exactly been "feeling" the yarn in the first place and had nothing that matched it....and caved.

Iris socks now live upstairs with Blondie. She was grateful...and since I have spent many an evening in bed with her watching tv, I was glad to finally have a barrier between myself and her FREEZING feet.