my favorite book...

while I was at home on vacation, i sorted through some boxes of my stuff that had been stored in the basement of my parents' house and that mom had brought with her to the new house in town when she moved this summer.

Lots and lots of, well, crap that I had amassed over the years. Why I kept or even bought some of that stuff I don't know. Most of it went into the garage sale pile.

However, there were a couple of keepers, including one of my favorite books from when I was little. I thought of it a while ago and how appropriate it was for me. I'll share some of it with you now (not the whole book, I don't want to break any copyright law or anything. I think/hope it's okay for me to share some of it with you like this)


Yes, that's right. Socks for Supper. I love this book even more now. It's the story of a poor couple who only have turnips to eat. I don't think I ever had turnips when I was little, and after reading about this couple eating them exclusively, I didn't want to eat them.

The couple find a pair of socks to trade with their neighbours for some cheese and milk. I wonder if Safeway would accept socks for cheese and milk.


So they eat the cheese and drink the milk and are happy. But, soon enough they run out of cheese and milk and start looking for more stuff to trade. They don't have any more socks to trade, so the wife says what any of us would say:

"I will knit some!"

**warning: the next picture may cause you to feel an overwhelming urge to go check on your own yarn stash.


"But she didn't have any yarn."

Let's take a moment for this poor old woman. Poor poor old woman. No yarn. None.

But, never fear. She did what I would do (and, probably, what you would do too)

I love several things about this picture:
1. She didn't unravel the man's sweater and THEN knit with the yarn. She's knitting and unravelling at the same time.
2. The old man's hair is exactly like my Dad's hair was (I think I liked that about this book when I was little)
3. She is knitting a sock, from the toe up with a shaped heel on a pair of straight needles. How? I want to learn to do that!
Also, either that man is the most patient guy in the world, standing there for hours/days while she knits a pair of socks from the sweater he is wearing, or she is the FASTEST KNITTER IN THE WORLD!!


1. Who says little old men can't rock a belly-baring shirt?
2. They are just WAY too happy about the milk and cheese.

So, this went on for a while. She'd knit socks, he'd wear his Britney Spears inspired ensemble over to the neighbours and then they old couple would pig out on milk and cheese for a while.

(you know where this is going don't you?)

Eventually the old man ran out of sweater and there was only enough yarn for one sock! He took it over to the farmer's to see what he could get with it. The farmer gave him a whole cheese and a bucket of milk, just like before because the farmer's wife needed that sock!


(you weren't really surprised by this were you?)

Of course she's using the socks....

Also, she is knitting a top-down pullover with the sleeves knit on with... 2 STRAIGHT NEEDLES!!! How are these women doing this?? I must know!

Well, it turns out that the farmer, who looks a little like Little Lord Fauntleroy, is a bit smaller than the sweater. So the farmer's wife gets a brilliant idea: That little old man, the one with the socks? He doesn't have a sweater! So she gives it to him.

And, you know what? Shockingly, it fits!


(sorry, I don't have pics of the end of the book.)