![\"2purples1stripe115\"](\"http:\/\/www.paksworld.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/2purples1stripe115.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe yarns\u00a0 were produced in Peru, Romania, and Turkey, and the actual source of the wool was not given.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The middle yarn includes 5%\u00a0 “neps” (different colored flecks) of polyester yarn;\u00a0 the other two yarns are 100% wool.\u00a0 No, Paks would not have worn socks like these.\u00a0\u00a0 There’s no “Superwash” wool in Paksworld (the treatment doesn’t exist), nor polyester yarn from which the flecks in the Galway Nep yarn are made.\u00a0\u00a0 The colors are not a problem, however.\u00a0 Purple dyes are known, as are blue and red dyes.\u00a0 Notice how “limp” the superwash yarn socks are; they actually have too much drape.\u00a0\u00a0 The other two yarns are of a type that might be found on Paksworld at the high end of the yarn market: both commercial knitters and people in larger towns and cities would be able to buy already-spun and dyed yarn, and thus knit (and wear) finer socks and other garments.<\/p>\n
Paks’s family lived well north of the Honnorgat,\u00a0 in higher, hilly country looking somewhat like the Yorkshire Dales.\u00a0\u00a0 Her mother spun and then wove a rougher, less even yarn, and Paks learned to knit socks, mitts, caps, etc. from this kind of yarn.\u00a0\u00a0 She is not an eager knitter, but she’s a competent one, both at making socks and darning them, as that scene with the doorkeeper in Chaya proved.\u00a0 Although the sock design I developed for my feet might have been used in Paksworld (probably was, someplace)\u00a0 I expect most toes would not have been asymmetrical, since socks wear longer if not always worn on the same foot.<\/p>\n
The Herdwick yarn socks finished (unblocked) on the kitchen floor, with the left and right foot shapes showing.\u00a0\u00a0 This kind of yarn would definitely be available to hill farmers with sheep.\u00a0 Handspun, it would be slightly uneven (the machine-spun yarn I bought isn’t perfectly even either.)\u00a0 This sock design is simple and designed for practicality, with a reinforced heel flap, reinforcement continued under the ball of the heel (a serious wear area) and asymmetric double-decreases to shape the toe.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paks would have made the ribbed cuff\/leg longer, and so would most farmers.\u00a0\u00a0 And on the feet, these socks with their hairy yarn make the feet look bigger:<\/p>\n Note the little “knob” (more visible on the right) where the last stitches have been pulled together (purse-stringed) to close the toe.\u00a0 There’s a more elegant way, Kitchener stitch, to close a toe but I find it annoying and time-consuming, and I would bet dollars to doughnuts that most home knitters–especially the hardworking poor–pulled the stitches together just like I do.\u00a0\u00a0 The knob is not hard and has yet to bother my feet in shoes.<\/p>\n This is basically the sock Paks would have grown up with, when she wore socks at all–and the kind of sock used in the Duke’s Company as well, though taller, covering more of the leg for protection.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Also, both the Duke’s Company and other military organizations often had the yarn from which their socks were made custom-dyed.\u00a0 Many servants would wear socks of this type…undyed wool.\u00a0\u00a0 Masons, carpenters, leatherworkers,\u00a0 farmworkers, etc. would most likely wear this kind of sock.\u00a0 The color varies with the fleece, of course, and if a household bought yarn spun by others, and could not afford dyed yarn, they could have a choice of this mottled brown-cream-gray, a darker all brown\/black, or a lighter cream color.\u00a0\u00a0 Garments might be knit of it, or woven into fabric to make it.<\/p>\n People with a social role to uphold–the more prosperous merchants and their families, the rich nobles, and in some cases the upper\u00a0 servants in wealthy or royal households–would not wear these socks “0n the job”, though as mentioned before, a rich person might choose these socks for their warmth and durability if out hunting or traveling in wet cold weather.\u00a0\u00a0 Their socks would be made of finer, smoother, softer\u00a0 yarn, of a color that suited their employer (if a servant) or their pleasure (if the rich person.)\u00a0\u00a0 A well-to-do merchant family, like the one Arcolin married into,\u00a0 would have soft-wool socks for all, including children like Jamis, and might well purchase some or all ready-knitted.<\/p>\n Kieri and his captains purchased socks knit to order (dyed to match the Company maroon, made to fit them) suitable for wearing under tall boots.)\u00a0\u00a0 In the country–up north in winter–Kieri and the other captains wore the heavier, bulkier “country” socks except when riding.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the soldiers, those brought up in a city, bought and kept a pair of “city socks” for visits to the city when they weren’t in uniform.\u00a0\u00a0 Fancy socks certainly do exist in Paksworld–usually saved for special occasions–festivals, weddings,\u00a0 and the like.\u00a0\u00a0 Paks may, at this point in her life, have a few softer, colored socks–gifts, or even something she bought–but her everyday socks will be hard-wearing and practical.<\/p>\n She might even have a pair like looked something like this:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n