Papa's socks

I made Papa John hand-knit socks for his birthday last year and he has mentioned several times how much he loves them. During the holidays he was wearing them and said if I ever got a hankering to, he would love a couple more pair, but just a bit higher on the leg. Papa works outside all year and in the 12+ years I've known him I've only ever seen him in long pants a handful of times. Mostly he wears cargo shorts and either his heavy boots or socks and sandals.

So for his birthday earlier this month I started working on his socks about mid January. I wanted to make them higher so started out with 3 skeins of sock yarn. I still worried that might not be enough as he also has a long foot, so added a contrasting color to stretch my original yarn a bit. I can usually knock out a pair of adult socks in a week but since these were so long and so tall each sock took almost 10 days. Good thing I started these in January!

Since I was using 2 plain colored yarns, I wanted a pattern that added a little bit of interest while also being easy to remember. I found this Ribes Jumeaux pattern on Ravelry.

Here is the finished product.

Close up of the heel and stitches

Another close up shot

I think Papa was quite pleased with his new socks as he immediately put them on after he opened them. The leg length was 11" but after he put them on I realized I could have added another 2-3". The foot fit him perfectly (it was also 11") so the next pair I only need to add to the leg length as I think he wants them to be knee highs. Did I mention Papa John is 6' 4" tall?