Tartan hose vs plain hose

[Pleater]

I have been making socks and hose for about 40 years - I found that the bar of stitching across the top of my toes on bought socks was just too uncomfortable after a couple of hours walking in boots, even the soft ones suitable for the English Pennines.

The trick is to use washable wool, wool that has been treated to prevent the scales of the fibres rising and interlocking.

Wool still in the natural state feels wonderful, but you are better off felting it from the beginning rather than trying to maintain it, as you might be able to keep it so as a jacket, hat or scarf, but socks - you really have no chance as the heat, humidity and friction socks experience are the requirements for felting par excellance.

Sock yarns available last century here in the UK, for everyday wear in shoes was a 90/10 mix of wool and Nylon, with the wool being quite high quality. Boot socks could be 20 to 60 percent Nylon, and the wool content of a tougher coarser kind.

Older washable yarns had a very strange feel, and even an odd smell when washed, and were not very nice to wear. Modern methods of treatment - I think it is a resin coating, are much better and far more like the natural feel of wool.

Hand knitted, or machine knitted with thick enough yarns, can be reworked to replace damaged feet, or have the foot part removed, the edge neatened and be worn with short socks - if worn with open shoes they can have a strip or band of knitting around the instep to fill in the gap and secure them in place, made from the unraveled part.

Anne the Pleater

[Bugbear]

See now, Pleater, that's the other thing. Out here in the sizzling desert, it probably would work out better to have some kind of footless hose being worn with short cotton-ish socks; that was kind of talked about earlier.

If you could figure out how to keep them in place, like a thin strap under the foot, I think they would work out, and also be long lasting. If there were a way to extend a flap of the hose, I'm thinking about tartan hose, down over the instep for the formal shoes, I don't know that anyone would ever notice. Perhaps a thin strap around the very end? Something to keep it all in place, or just wear shoes that have a tongue...

[Pleater]

I used to wear cotton socks inside my boot hose, as I found that it was more comfortable to be able to change the thin socks during the day as it cooled my feet off and kept the long hose fresh - also swapping them over between feet was good.

It would be easy to make a part sock, leaving out the heel flap but making the instep - either just the top of it or a ring to go around the foot - essentially a heel-less toe-less foot. A length of dark elastic would hold the just the top of the instep variant in place, stop it twisting or sliding out of place.

Cotton is easy to dye, though, so someone competent in the craft could make the colours and knit tartan socks in cotton.

Anne the Pleater

[Bugbear]

Interesting, Pleater... And back there we were talking about cadadh hose made from the same tartan fabric that one's kilt is made from, cut on the bius, of course. I can see how this could possiblely be adapted to what you are saying.

[Pleater]

If the diversion can be forgiven - there are lots of similarities between knitted garments and previously made from cloth equivalents.

The English workman's smock with its gathers and embroidered patterns is mimicked with strips of garter stitch and rice stitch motifs of stars, diamonds, and many traditional patterns seen in many different crafts.

The stretch and fluidity gained by cutting cloth on the bias means that an item would accomodate different sizes, within limits, and that is perfectly mimiced by the elasticity and ability to deform found in knitted fabrics, particularly ribbing.

Weaving is quite a quick method of producing fabric, but the knitting frame, an early knitting machine, was devised over 400 years ago, and has been constantly upgraded to do more and more comples knitting ever since.

Domestic knitting machines have been capable of making tartan hose for some considerable time - I would guess at 100 years, though it might be longer, and the resulit would be a flat piece of knitting which would require seaming just like the bias cut cloth.

Once the intarsia method is mastered, or short rowing which also can be used to make diamonds using multiple colours is not difficult, though it does take time compared to standard machine knitting techniques.

Ah - the DH requires my attention

Anne the Pleater

[Friday]

A stirruped sock has been used in baseball uniform for many years>



This picture from Baseball Express

For the use you are suggesting you would want it to have a shorter stirrup and have the leg cover more of the top of the sock.

J. Higgins and others also have diced hose tops:



Which are similar but do not seem to have the stirrup.

Side note J. Higgins advertise Argyle hose for $45 I have no idea about the quality.

[Bugbear]

Well, then I guess it is doable. The trick would be to design them such that the tartan would never gap from the shoes.

What are the arguements against wearing and having tartan cadadh made for formal hose?

[fluter]

See now, Pleater, that's the other thing. Out here in the sizzling desert, it probably would work out better to have some kind of footless hose being worn with short cotton-ish socks; that was kind of talked about earlier.

I don't know about your sizzling climate, but I'll just observe that my feet think that wool is orders of magnitude cooler than cotton. Wool wicks, it breathes, it rules in the heat & humidity.

Your feet's mileage, as they say, may vary.

[Friday]

I don't know about your sizzling climate, but I'll just observe that my feet think that wool is orders of magnitude cooler than cotton. Wool wicks, it breathes, it rules in the heat & humidity.

Your feet's mileage, as they say, may vary.

I wonder that in concert with the wicking / breathing features of wool if it would help to go up a needles size of the leg and make a less dense knit? This would open up the hose leg and aid in air flow.

[lickstone]

I have a knitting book of Scottish hose patterns by Veronica Gainford of Argyll, Scotland. As a schoolgirl in the 1914 war she made numerous khaki and grey. They were worn with knickerbockers.
She says that "shooting stockings are no longer called such but she reported that stockings must come over the knee. "hose". Never, never should they be called "socks", or worse still, "sox"! She also stated that they could be turned up over the knee for warmth or protectin as in deer stalking.
I, mysellf found it interesting that she was from Argyll, Scotland.

I have a question re tartan hose

After looking at some old prints of highlanders of various clans etc and seeing them all wearing tartan moggans ( moggans = footless hose tied up with a garter etc ) why is tartan hose, Argyle hose etc now considered only suitable for full dress ? . Why did this come about ?

Kilted Kiwi