ever since I went to a knitting trade show and found some addi turbo circulars that are specically for socks (and work great for seamless sleaves on baby clothes too). No worrying about the needle falling out. I love doing the straight knitting part, because I don’t have to count or get to the end of a row and it’s ok to be interrupted. I do have a hard time when it comes to the heal turning though, just finding a block of time to do it in.

But I’m with you on knitting them for others. They are too much work and most people have no idea and don’t appreciate it. When I saw your goal of knitting them for homeless people I shuddered a bit. All that work for something that may get discarded on the next hospital visit.

Do they take a really long time to knit, though? I make a lot of afghans and shawls/stoles, that kind of thing, so to me it seems a small project (even though I have yet to finish one!). I do like making dishcloths. I don’t know why. I try out new patterns on them.

it’s a great gesture of love for your recipient, your recipient has to understand that it was a lot of work and love you back for it. I don’t think most people would understand the time it took to make socks—for them, socks are socks! Even people who watch the process don’t always get it. A friend of mine made a cashmere baby sweater as a gift for her sister in law, and the woman didn’t like the color and asked her if she could just make a new one!