Kansas, socks

At the beginning of February (was that a whole month ago already?), I spent 6 days on a solo road trip to Kansas to do a duet recital with my college teacher, who is retiring after this year. (No, I don't plan to take her job, and yes, I was asked if I am interested.)

While there, I stayed with my aunt and uncle, who conveniently live about 2 blocks away from the small college, my alma mater, where we were performing. When I was a college student, I used to go to their house to do my laundry. Usually I got a dinner invitation and sometimes I would bake a batch of bread to take back to my roommates. Ah, college days. 

I started running in college during my sophomore year. It was an unusually stressful year, and I figured I had to do something to save my sanity. It was either going to be regular exercise or an eating disorder, so I went for the healthier option. I started running on the dirt road leading away from campus (small towns in Kansas have a lot of dirt roads in and around them). When I was there last month it was really nice to run my old route. 

The colors of Kansas are light, warm neutrals.

Anyway, I know that hosting can be a lot of work, even for someone relatively low-maintenance like me, so I decided to knit socks for my aunt Bonnie as a thank you gift. She's often cold, snuggling under blankets and drinking hot tea in the evening. 

I winged the design because I didn't want to mess around with following a pattern and I wanted to get these done quickly. The heel follows Lara Neel's instructions for a traditional flap and gusset in Sock Architecture, and the toe decreases are roughly like the ones in the Smooth Operator Socks by Susan B. Anderson, though these methods are universal enough I almost didn't need instructions. 

(More details are below the photo.)

The yarn is Kickapoo Sock by Ewetopia Yarns in a color called "Dark Plum," which impossible to photograph (it's less purple and more red IRL) and is perfect for Bonnie. 

I used size 1 needles and cast on 68 stitches. The stitch pattern was more or less improvised, but it's just a 3x1 rib with purl rounds every so often to break the monotony. I intentionally made the cuffs rather short so the socks would be easy to pull on without a lot of tugging. 

If these had been for anyone else they would have been hard to give away, but some people are so kind and generous they are easy to knit for. My aunt Bonnie is one of those people.