Entropy is a fact of life. Stuff wears out, decays, or is lost. We crafters and those who receive our oh-so-generous gifts are not immune to this. Still, it can hurt a bit when something we’ve made is destroyed or lost.
I would say however, that the manner in which something I’ve made and gifted comes to it’s sad but inevitable end matters immensely. The longer something survived, the less upset I’ll be when the day comes. Likewise, wearing it out through lots of use and love isn’t going to leave me in tears of frustration, or anger.
So, when my aunt sent me a picture of her now heel-less socks which I’d made back in 2019, I couldn’t be sad. She’s worn them a lot based on what she’s told me. My husband is impressed that she wore them out, as he has not managed this level of destruction on any of his socks.*
Naturally, my first offer was for her to ship back the socks to me, and I’d repair the heels. This was turned down for two reasons:
- She doesn’t really believe they are worth repairing because to her the damage looks immense (I disagree)
- She hasn’t actually stopped wearing them because they are her favorites.
So, instead I’m using the second skein I have in the same yarn and colorway, Hedgehog Fibres fingering sock in “Raku” to make a replacement pair. Luckily, I did a pretty decent job recording my notes when I made the first pair, and I’m confident I’m replicating them pretty closely. Once she has the new pair, I’ll try to get the old ones from her for knitting surgery. Oh, and I’ve used a double strand of yarn in heel turn since that’s what she wore through.
I have to say… they are awfully pretty socks. The dark aged bronze green/grey of the main yarn color looks lovely and sophisticated, but the flashes of pink, yellow, gold and bronze add a shimmer to the socks. It’s like sunlight on a deep pool or shaded stream in the forest.
The pattern is “Show-off Stranded Socks” by Anne Campbell, and it’s a personal favorite of mine for use with speckled and variegated indie-dyed yarns. Though, I tend to do my own thing with the heels.
*he also has quite a few more pairs, wears them with silk liner socks which bear the brunt of his abuse, and I don’t make him 90% soft merino socks with only 10% nylon given how much we walk around