Bella by Jody Pirrello

My mom's name is Isabelle, but her closest friends and family call her Bella.

This has been quite a year for my mom.  She had minor leg surgery, was diagnosed with lung cancer, braved the surgery and recovery of breathing without half of one of her lungs, sold her house, and moved to Texas without ever having visited before.

I probably spent more time with my mom this year than I did in the past 5 years combined, and yet I still miss her now that she's settled in Texas.

My mom loves word puzzles, and the last time she visited she left behind her pen - a purple ball point.  I started using it all the time as a little way of being close to her.

I used that pen when designing these socks. As I knitted the sock I realized it was symbolic of our relationship (and probably a lot of other mother-daughter relationships).  The alternating colors are me and my mom.  They're equally represented, although sometimes we see more of one color than the other.  Sometimes the colors that fall next to each other have great contrast, and at other times they're more similar.  Just like our relationship - sometimes laughing together, sometimes arguing, but always loving each other  The 2 row striping on the heel and toe show us at our closest.  Like the time she stayed at my house for several weeks after a bad breakup, or earlier this year when she was in the hospital.

Make these socks for yourself and dedicate them to someone special in your life.  Or share the project with another knitter you're close to, picking out a ball of yarn from each of your stashes.  Or use sock scraps and have a momento of all the socks you've made for yourself and others.

And if you're lucky enough to have your mom closeby, give her a hug.

Sizes

One size, 8" in circumference.

Yarn

Noro Kureyon Sock (70% wool, 20% nylon; 420 m / 100 grams); color S102, 1 ball

Needles

US#1 (2.5 mm): 36" or 48" circular for magic loop

Gauge

32 sts and 40 rows = 4" in St st

Notions

Tapestry needle, 2 stitch markers.