Father's Day Socks

Father's Day is next weekend, and so I must make something.

I wish I could make something for every awesome dad in my life, but since there are so many, and time is always so very short, I had to choose only one man. And this time I chose my dad.

My dad has been bugging me for about a year and a half (or more, and thus rightly so with the bugging) to make him a pair of socks. He wants some handmade woolly socks to keep his feet warm at night. He is 82 next month and his toes are not always the warmest. 

One afternoon each week, I arrive at my parents' house to pick up Amy Rose (she gets to spend Mondays with her favorite grandpa/play date buddy). Usually by this time of day, Amy is napping on the couch with dirty knees, wild hair and a dirty face, all signs of the fun she has been having. This often gives my parents and I a fair amount of time to talk and relax together.

While we talk, I knit socks for one thing or another, and my dad always says, "Say, I would like those socks. I like those colors!" or, "Say, I like those socks! I like stripes!" or, "I would wear

The sock has a slipped stitch rib
that looks really nice and is fun to knit

those! I think they would fit me!" He has become so desperate to drive home his message of sock desire, that he makes these exclamations about socks with everything from brown stripes to pink roses and lace trim. 

His time for socks has come. 

This weekend, I pulled out a pattern I have been saving from Lorna's Laces via Jimmy Bean's Wool. Those of you who have followed the blog for a while know that there was a time when Jimmy Bean's Wool was my mainstay and sustenance for all things yarney. (You also know I tended to go a little, uh, overboard in my consumeristic enthusiasm.)

The pattern was on a mailing bag and it is for a pair of socks entitled, "Honey Do." This is ironic since my dad never--ever--has to be told to do a project. He is always working on something--that is, until it is time to relax. 

I used Ellae Rae's worsted weight wool.
I've had it for so long that it is discontinued.
I must have been saving it for this.

I have never seen someone who gets the concept that work should always be followed by relaxation better than my dad. He does it right.

He will work all day in his very large garden, for example, in the heat of the sun, never shirking. But when it is time for lunch, his favorite coffee break at 3pm (yes, a hot one...he claims it cools you off), or dinner time, he knows how to set aside work to recharge his mind and soul.

On each break, he miraculously settles completely down--an idea hardly heard of today--not making plans for the rest of the work, not talking about what has already been done, but just being. I have watched this behavior all of my life and have watched it rejuvinate him time and again without fail. It is a practice I have taken to heart and own for myself.

My dad taught me to work hard, earn my break, then take it with the full satisfaction of a job well done; no guilt allowed. And with that relaxation, my dad taught me to sit in the quiet, listen to the noises around me, no matter where I am, and just be. Be thoughtful, pensive, mindful and grateful. 

Dad, I love you. And you're welcome for the socks, even if you don't need a Honey Do list. I know you won't mind.