Mad Cows Find Happy Home

Mayrav has very generously agreed to take the Mad Cow socks.

I knit these socks for speed, not for quality and boy howdy does it show. So what to do with socks which do not represent my best work?

If I keep them for myself, their suckiness will perpetually taunt me. But how can I give away something which displeases me? Here. Have some hand-made crap.

I have before been happy, even proud, to give away my hand knits which had blatant flaws. The difference was those items did represent my best work, at that time. They were hand made gifts from the heart. I wouldn't be giving them to someone who would be disappointed with a hand made gift just because it wasn't technically perfect.

But these socks could have been better. I consciously chose to make them quickly instead of making them well.

For instance, there are the crappy color changes. I didn't even try for a "jogless" join. Moreover, because of the speed thing, I really yanked on the new color as I carried it up, instead of aiming for even tension. This produced some truly bizarre results.



Then there's the holes in the short row heel. I don't really want to talk about those anymore, but I will show you a picture now. As you can also see in this picture, I had some issues with "ladders". I could have improved those ladders by being more diligent in the knitting. But no.



Finally, there's the toe. I did a three needle bind off on the toe. It is faster than doing a kitchener toe but after having done it, I am more convinced than ever of the superiority of a kitchener toe.



So why am I subjecting Mayrav to these? It's not that I don't like her or that she's in such desperate need of socks she'll take anything. She's not blind or stupid, either. Basically, she's doing me a favor. Yes, the socks will fit her. Yes, the colors suit her better than they suit me. But that's not it. She's doing me this favor because she was there. She saw me knitting as fast as my little hands could. She was amused by the whole thing. She understands why these socks are so craptastic and knows I can't stand it. She'll take these socks out of my sight because she's a good friend. And maybe, someday, if she wears them, she'll appreciate the sentimentality of these sucky socks. For her, and only her, can these become a hand made gift from the heart.

At least I wrapped them pretty.