Period correct pattern wool socks

[Slickrick214]

Does anyone have a source for a vendor who sells correct wool pattern socks? I would prefer hand knit but machine knit is fine too. I'm just looking for period correct pattern with no modern elastic. I've been holding off asking this for a few weeks now because I wanted to try and find a source myself but I've come up with nothing. In another thread posted yesterday about blankets Ross posted a vendor named South Union Mills. This is a direct link to their knit section including wool socks http://www.southunionmills.com/Knit_Goods.html. They don't give much of a description though. They don't say whether their socks are based on period patterns or if their hand knit or machine knit or if they have elastic or not. All that lack of information makes me uncertain.

[Scooby_308]

Might want to try Mrs. Lawson on this one...I hear she knows a thing or two about socks.

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Those offered in the above link are indeed authentic, as well as those offered by NJ Sekela, and I'm sure if Mrs. Lawson pops in, she'll be able to tell you some more. She's forgotten more about knit goods than I ever learn...

[Slickrick214]

Thanks. I really like the socks NJ Sekela sells but I wasn't sure if they were cotton or wool. I didn't have a chance to email Nick and ask him. I wasn't sure about the other ones either from Soutern Union mills. Now I have atleast two places to look at for new socks.

[Spinster]

Well first, lets talk about the primary hallmark of a pair of period socks--the heels.

Take off your shoes and look at your modern socks. Unless somebody loves you a whole lot, and knits fitted socks for you, you will see a diagonal line running from the side of your heel towards the bottom, right where your heel turns from flat on the ground to going up your leg.

That diagonal line is the mark of a modern sock. Now, there are a number of vendors who sell a modern machine knit sock with a modern heel. They may be wool, they may be cotton, but the heel is modern. Why--well, the only way to make a period correct heel requires a certain amount of hand knitting. Many folks can not or will not pay what it takes to produce such a sock, whether in this country or out of country.

There is an excellent article in the Columbia Rifles Research Compendium II that illustrates a number of period heel types. The author of that article, Karin Timour, makes and sells period socks, and has done extensive research on originals. Her socks are finely knit, utilizing both hand techniques and an early stocking knitting machine for some of the leg work. Yarns are 100% wool, machine spun in either natural wool colors or dyed with modern dyes. The socks are fitted to your measurements and are available in a number of documented period patterns. The price reflects the excellence of the work, as does the lead time.

I make a somewhat coarser knit sock on period pattern-again, 100% wool. Sometimes yarns are hand spun on a treadle wheel, sometimes they aren't. Depends on how the mood strikes me. I use period dyes to achieve my colors. Quite frankly, I'd rather do sleeping hats and tams, and I'll do that for anyone. I have to like somebody a lot to make socks for them, and even then, I don't make minimum wage at my prices. I'm not taking sock orders right now, because I actually have to think to make socks, and that's a challenge when caring for my father full time. Hats and tams I can knit in my sleep, and will be glad to do those. I also offer period dyed wool yarns by the skein for your knitter to utilize. I have an original period sock knitting machine--I don't love anybody enough to make pair of socks for them on it--and if I did, I'd make them by hand.

Kim Caudell makes an excellent finely knit sock, again with a modern dyed yarn, but period knitting techniques, and to your measurements. I refer customers to her frequently.

Nancy Sorchy makes an excellent finely knit sock, and utilizes my period dyed yarns and period knitting techniques, also made to measure. I refer customers to her as well.

Robin Stokes offers several period pattern sock kits with clear instructions for your knitter. These are available both in my period dyed wool yarns and in modern dyed yarn.

I'm sure there are other knitters out there doing excellent work. Some are using proper period heels and toes, some are not. Some are using a proper gauge, some are not.


Then there are a number of larger questions here:

(1) Many reenactors are simply not willing/able to pay the price it will take to produce a properly made period sock. They also expect them to wear forever at those prices. That's not possible.

(2) While I enjoy knitting, (its organized fidgetting for me, and makes me a nicer person), I'm not willing to work for less than minimum wage to make an item for someone. Some vendors are willing to sell items produced at less than those levels, and some folks are willing to buy them without regard to what the worker is making. Not my business, but it does affect the supply and the marketplace.

(3) A fine pair of fitted period socks is a pleasure. For some folks, the price is a barrier to participation in the hobby. Charles Heath and I had more than one discussion about how important that period heel and toe really was. We also often switched sides of the discussion, depending on the mood of the day.

And that's all I have to say about that.......:p

[Slickrick214]

Wow..thanks thats more then I could ever want to know (in a good way) about Civil War socks . I think I'll go with the socks from NJ Sekela or South Union mills. I know they aren't perfect and probably use a modern heel stitch but I'm not going to pay 50 or 60 dollars for a pair of custom made hand knit socks.

[Spinster]

Going solely by the picture, and knowing there are details that can't be seen, that's a period double knit heel on Sekela's socks--one of many correct types of period heel.

I can't see enough of the toe treatment to venture an opinion. The stitch count may be coarse for the majority of period socks, but that does not mean that an extant original does not exist.

The price puts them in reach for many.

Rather like the discussion folks had years ago concerning Family Heirloom Weaver's coverlets----at the time, there were folks finding fault. And I stated " I would not thread my loom for what Pat is charging for the finished coverlet" . And that's a decision each reenactor and each event standard must make---where on the economic spectrum does one exchange a spot on reproduction of the common fineness of period work for a price point that is affordable for more people. In the coverlet case, it was an easy decision for me. I've made handwoven overshot coverlets. I was quick to declare myself a member of the FWH Coverlet of the Month Club--and my house reflects it to this day. Some are as fine as a period coverlet, and the price reflected it--others were more coarsely woven--and those are the ones that I will actually take in the field.

Everybody's mileage will most certainly vary.....

[PvtMudflap]

I've heard the name Karin Timour mentioned in conjuction with conversations about socks, also.
D Harrelson

[erich]

Thanks for the names of producers. I am glad to see someone out there is making period style socks to fit. Years ago, I was excited to get a two pair through one of my professors who knew someone reproducing them, only to find out that I couldn't get my big feet into them. I've been out of reenacting for a bit now, but will add a pair or two on my list of must haves.

Erich

[1stSgt45PVI]

I or rather the Mrs. does! She makes prefect "period" 100% wool socks per original pattern and alot cheaper than most sutlers are gonna charge ya for the quality and same item. It is one of the same machines that were used to crank out 1000's of socks for the Christian & Sanitary Commission as well as many other suppliers of footware for soldiers during the war.

If you want further info, shoot me a PM and I'll have her get in contact w/ you. :D I don't know how the thing works other than it looks like a fancy meat grinder w/ needles, but the finished product is marvelous. I have several pairs, and perfer them to any other sock in my drawer or knapsack.

Cheers,
Zach

[KarinTimour]

Dear Rich:

I've been obsessed with Civil War socks for a decade now, and while I enjoy reproducing them for use in the field, I totally understand someone deciding that my socks are not where they want to spend their reenacting dollar. As with most vendors in this hobby, my fascination with researching these products and figuring out how they were made far outstrips my desire to make a sale.

Dear Zach:

I am always extremely interested in hearing of a new documented sock or existing original. Those of us who are sock obsessed are always thrilled to hear there is another person who is also researching the same items and love to compare notes.

I've been to 14 states to study surviving originals in person, and am ALWAYS up for a road trip to visit one I've not seen before. In the past I wrote the chapter on Federal Issue Stockings for the Columbia Rifles Research Compendium, Second Edition, and recently authored an article on Civil War socks for "Piecework," a magazine about historical needlework.

My research has taken me down several interesting paths, including an extensive study of the invention and production of the various sock machines that were in use during the Civil War. Knitting frames had been in use to make socks since the 1500s, but those socks are knit in a flat sheet and then have to be hand sewn together, and have two sewn seams that run the length of the foot from heel to toe. With the invention of the latch-hook needle, in the late 1850s, inventors engineered the first circular sock machines.

I was very interested in your post about Mrs. Zach's socks. Could you please answer some questions about them (or let Mrs. Zach come discuss them)?

1. What is the make of her machine, who was the inventor and where was it made? It sounds from your description that it is not a knitting frame, but rather a circular sock machine. Is this correct? Do the needles sit upright around the cylander, or do they lie horizonally, as they do in the 1850s and 1860s Aiken machines?

2. Does she make each sock entirely on the machine, including the toe and heel? Or does she make the leg, take it off the machine, hand knit the heel, put it back on the machine, knit the foot and then hand knit the toe?

3. Would be extremely interested in her documentation of the originals that she's reproducing -- does she have printed directions from our period for how to make these socks? Or is she reproducing surviving originals in museum collections? If the latter, I'm thrilled to hear of machine-made soldiers socks that have survived and would very much like to go study them in person.

4. You mentioned that "1000's of socks for the Christian & Sanitary Commission as well as many other suppliers of footware for soldiers during the war. " I've got a parrallel interest in the Christian and Sanitary Commission socks, as well as those produced on contract for sale to the Confederate and Union armies, and would like to read more about where and in which geographic areas these socks were produced.

Very happy to hear of Mrs. Zach's socks, looking forward to hearing more,

Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Sleeping hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[toptimlrd]

To answer a couple of questions about the socks Nick carries, they are correct and made from wool. You may want to check to see if they are in stock though as they were out of stock at the end of last year. drop a note to Tim Koehn (tim@njsekela.com) and I'm sure he can answer that one for you.

[FloridaHoosier]

To answer a couple of questions about the socks Nick carries, they are correct and made from wool. You may want to check to see if they are in stock though as they were out of stock at the end of last year. drop a note to Tim Koehn (tim@njsekela.com) and I'm sure he can answer that one for you.

The most sure way to find out about the current status of these socks, as well as all products from there, is to email direct to the site nick@njsekela.com.

[Slickrick214]

I will email him this week. I already bugged him about clothing I'll give him a break before I email him again. I don't want to bother him to much.