Sock Blockers!

I have always wanted wooden sock blockers but they are always so exorbitantly priced when you find them in antique shops. My parents and I stayed with my sister and her husband in August so that we could wander through Gold Rush Days at their fairgrounds. Mom and I each got a pair of wooden sock blockers for $10! We were thrilled! This vendor also had a single pair of stocking blockers, so we split the pair and each got one for $8 as I recall. They were in pretty good shape, but I did scrub them down in my tub once we got them here, and then Mom took them home and sanded them. I just got mine back this weekend and will sometime soon rub them down with a beeswax wood finish I have. And of course I had to try some of my knitting on them! We were even at a yarn shop that weekend and saw a brand new, single and plastic sock blocker from Fibertrends for $24.95, so I am very happy with these. Very seldom do I ever block socks, but I've just always wanted some wooden blockers. Maybe if I ever have some semblance of a sewing room some day, I'll hang them up on the wall!

While I was home I had to get out the Elizabethan hose I knit for my mother--just so I could try them out on the blocker! I knit these several years ago when I was just learning to spin. My mother sews reproduction clothing and costumes and has a few Elizabethan gowns. She had found an article about knit silk hose and remarked that under all her hoop skirts and petticoats, her legs got quite cold when she wore her costume. I ordered some tussah silk roving from EBay for $28.00/pound and started spinning sock weight singles on my drop spindle so as to be authentic. I measured every aspect of Mom's leg/foot, knit a swatch, did some math, and worked out a pattern for these and began knitting. I even tried to include some "clocks" on the ankles like the article discussed. This was quite an ambitious knitting project for me at the time, and I've saved my sketches and notes I kept as I was working on them, but I don't know that I could make another pair from that alone! I'm still very proud of them every time I see them though!