Hauling Out The Reinforcements

I have a thing about reinforcing the toes of my socks—maybe because I hate to repair the toes of socks when they become airy (as in holes). So, I decided to reinforce the toes of every pair I knit, but didn’t know what to use in the effort. I tried several things: heavy crochet cotton in a similar color, lace weight wool, and regular reinforcement yarn when it is available. In the picture, left to right, is red reinforcement yarn on the first two socks, off white lace weight wool on the third sock, white crochet cotton on the fourth sock and toe reinforcement yarn on the orange sock. I don’t know what works best yet, because it is doing such a good job that none of my socks’ toes have worn in the slightest. I’ll report when I have conclusive proof. Aren’t these scientific experiments fun! I wonder how many other sock knitters reinforce their toes. Maybe everyone does it and I’m just catching up.

At the risk of being chatty, I have to say that I have fallen in love with knitting podcasts. It’s so relaxing to listen to a pleasant voice talk about knitting subjects, while working on a project. Yesterday I was listening to one about raising llamas—more specifically, “What it takes to move a llama.” I couldn’t identify with half of the information she gave the listener, but I so enjoyed visualizing those cute little llamas walking around being luxurious fiber on the hoof. Before I knew it, I had finished the foot of a sock and was starting one of those reinforced toes.


This picture is of a new acquisition of Fleece Artist merino sock yarn from Little Knits, one of my favorite yarn shops. I order from them online or course, because they are in Seattle, but I would love to visit their shop one day. They take extra special care of me, and I get my orders very quickly, which is good because this is my next pair of socks! I promised myself that I wouldn’t get too many projects ahead again, but I couldn’t resist the yummy tangerine, peach, and cream colors (suddenly I'm hungry). And, we won't talk about the Regia I have ordered, or the cotton I ordered today for Christmas dishcloths. I don’t have those orders yet, so they don’t count as being stash-obsessive. Right?