Those purple ones with yellow accents are a replacement pair — I have a customer who’s exchanging for a looser fit on the leg. (I finished the mate this weekend, not the whole pair. I haven’t knit quite that manically in years.)

I love this customer…I think she may now own more pairs of my socks than any one person in my family, including my brother, who’s gotten a pair a year for a while.

(KidBrother hunts, you see. They’re great for that, especially in the obnoxious camo yarn I found a couple of years ago. GAWD, it’s ugly and acrylic and rotten to knit with, but it meets the need…)

The rusty red ones will be for the shop. I need some fall colors in there to tone down all the pink and green, and I needed a break from knitting with mostly black yarn, because it’s depressing and rough on the eyes.

The black ones are a gift. Not a surprise gift, because they were requested. It seems a pair of Jen-knit socks will last a good six years or so before they become puppy toys, so it’s time to replace some that I made as a gift when I first came down here.

Ah, that sweet, idyllic time when I had more yarn than money… When I’m finally diagnosed with arthritis, it will be from that year, that Christmas, when everyone got socks and/or a mix CD of holiday music under the tree.