Socks for Mike

Several years ago when I lived in Montana, a lady I met gave me a small bag of black wool from her sheep.  I finally decided to make something with it this year. I thought it would be a nice color for a guy to wear and I've never knit anything for my husband, so I decided on a pair of socks.  

First I carded the wool into rovings in preparation for spinning.  

Then one afternoon I grabbed my pile of rovings, a cup of coffee, and sat down to my spinning wheel. 

This is the finished yarn.  The color is natural black/brown/gray from the sheep.  

I didn't have a lot of fiber to work with, so I spun a fairly fine yarn so there would be enough yardage. 

Then I measured Mike's foot, picked out some needles, and knit a small sample to determine how many stitches per inch my yarn/needle combo made. Then I figured out how many stitches I needed to put on my needles to make a sock that would fit, and started knitting.

I knit this sock from the toe up.

Then turned the heel, knit some more and added a cuff. 

The socks always look more finished after you wash and shape them.

Here they are on my feet- a little big for me, but you get the idea.

The socks fit Mike and the project kept me entertained for quite a while, so that is good!  :)

If you're interested in knitting socks from handspun yarn, I recommend The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook by Lynne Vogel.