pearls before swine

My kids occasionally ask for -- no, make that demand, in no uncertain terms -- a particular hand-knitted item. Usually, once I produce saiditem, they complain that it is too itchy to wear or ignore it at the back of the drawer. The latter scenario has been the fate of the hand-knit socks made for Primo and Secondo.

Remember these?

The only socks I managed to complete during Summer of Socks '08 have barely seen the soles of their owner's feet. He was hard up for clean socks this morning, so he decided to wear them to school for a change from the current fad of no show white socks. (I really don't get why the boys think that the look -- or feel -- of bare ankle with jeans in winter makes sense, but it's all the rage right now.)

He came home outraged on my behalf, to his credit. The girls on his bus had said his socks were ugly, and why was he wearing them? He pointed out in no uncertain terms that his mom had made them for him, and they weren't ugly, anyway.

I'm not sure how much longer he will cop to his mom making his socks, but I am reasonably sure that they will never be worn in public again. Luckily, they might fit me -- but I plan to have a word with those little snots on the bus.