Vauvan Sukka

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Keeping to the recent almost-theme, this is Vauvan Sukka, Finnish for something pretty close to “train socks.” The pattern is attributed on Ravelry to Kerttu Latvala,and is posted by her daughter Terttu Latvala as a free pattern. First Kerttu and then Terttu have gifted hundreds of pairs of these baby socks to all the babies they can.

The story of how the gifting started is explained this way by Terttu, as translated into English at Teakat Translation, where the free pattern is also available.

“In early 1939, Terttu Latvala’s mother Kerttu Latvala was evacuating ahead of World War II battles along with her 2-month-old baby daughter. Her train trip from Vaasa (coastal Finland) was delayed due to a section of the railroad tracks having been destroyed by bombings. A fellow passenger, a retired needlework teacher, took pity on the un-bootied little feet of the baby girl, and during the delay, unraveled yarn from her own white hand-knit sweater, and used it to make the baby a pair of socks.”

Once again, knitters show people at their generous best.

My train socks are knit in leftover bits of Wollmeise superwash “pure.” The bands of Quaker rib should make sure that these will stay put and not be easily kicked off.Here is my Ravatar modeling them.

trainsocks