Hello! Our Fashion Friday post this week comes to us from guest blogger Sarah Warburton. (View her blog here.) Sarah writes mysteries, has read pretty much everything, and is my awesome Saturday morning writing date. I’m not sure anyone else could lure me from sleep before dawn on a weekend to drive down to a coffee shop with my ancient (read: heavy) laptop to write, but Sarah’s company and keeping-you-honest presence make it more than worth the effort. In addition to being a really wonderful writer and reader and writing partner…

…she knits.

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Amy Pond: I thought…well, I started to think you were just a mad man with a box.

The Doctor: Amy Pond, there’s something you better understand about me ’cause it’s important and one day your life may depend on it…I am definitely a mad man with a box.

Tardis Socks: Fantasy, Fashion Statement, Wearable Art or Practical Footwear?

Why socks? It turns out I have a longer answer to this question…and more photos of the socks I’ve knitted over the years. I’ll post that extended answer to my blog this weekend. In short: Socks are small. Easy to knit, easy to carry and a gift that doesn’t take up too much space or require any unflattering or extremely personal measurements. Whether you live where it gets cold or here in Texas, everyone can use a pair of socks. And they take a long time to knit (on average 2-3 weeks for me), but not as long as some projects. And when I think about the clothes I have or my kids have, it’s the socks drawer that always has a little more room. And you don’t have to be Seely Booth from the television drama Bones to be a little more adventurous with fashion choices you can hide under the cuffs of your trousers and inside a shoe.

Why the Tardis? Because it’s “bigger on the inside,” of course! The Tardis (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) appears to be an ordinary police phone box, but it contains an extraordinary time machine with personality and verve.

Why Tardis socks? These socks are the perfect combination of wearable and awesome. I used a free pattern I found on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tardis-socks designed by Keladry B. They started off like any other cuff-down sock, then transitioned into the colorwork. When I finished knitting the part that says POLICE BOX, I showed them to my husband, a long-time Doctor Who fan. He said, “Cool. Is the yarn making that pattern?” He’s seen me knit a lot of striped and fancy socks, but no, in this case, I was making the writing appear through the magic of two-handed stranded knitting. Then the windows, then the textured squares, and then this awesome sock sports a completely ordinary foot. I love this for a few reasons.

1) The Tardis would look weird with a foot. It’s just a rectangle, right?

2) Knitting a plain foot is easy enough to do at the movies. While watching “The Way, Way Back” with one’s husband, for example.

3) And it’s very comfortable in a shoe. No worries about bulky cables or lacy textures. Perfect.

The hardest part about these socks is that they are for a swap. On Ravelry I signed up for a Doctor Who swap. I was assigned a partner and am creating a package around the theme and the answers my partner gives to various questionnaires, the projects they’ve posted, the yarn they have, etc. The rule of swaps really is to “give unto others as you would have them give unto you.” These socks are not the only thing that will be in my partner’s package (think Daleks and Weeping Angels!) but they are definitely the item I most covet. Perhaps I’ll even knit a pair for myself!

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in the color “cote d’azure” as well as a little bit of Tofusies in black and Heart & Sole in White.

Needles: circular 2.25 mm

Pattern: Tardis Sock by Keladry B

Cast-on: Sometime in early July

Finished: August 7th

NB: Swappee, don’t be alarmed. I am in fact wearing clean socks underneath these socks for photo-taking purposes. Will now wash and block them…but they have NOT been directly on my feet!

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