Sheila, the one pair of socks I made for my husband also came out a bit too large. But he loves them for sleeping in. I've made several pair for a sister-in-law who swears that they are the warmest socks she's ever had. She works outside and wears them to work in quite often. She calls them her toasty socks.

Sheila, you bet wool socks are warm! And your DS will love them! I knitted 1 pair for DH and am working on another for him. I won't let him wear them to work, because he wears holes in them, but at night he will put them on here at home for a few hours. He loves them. I have 4 pair of my own, with one of a pair missing at the moment. One of those pair is made with alpaca, and is the warmest socks I've ever found. I can only wear them when I am freezing!

Tami

Oh yes. I heart my handknit wool socks. I would never ever knit them on size 2s again, but I love them. If you use a toe-up pattern, it's easier to get them the right size, I think, 'cause they're easier to try on that way.

I knit some for a friend, and didn't have him around, but he had roughly the same size feet as one of my brothers, so I made my brother try them on. You can ALWAYS block them bigger, but you can't block them smaller.

~ Kit

Well, he laughed at the Magic Stripe I was using (with navy, medium blue, brown and flecks of ecru) so I ripped out the half I had made and am now making little bootie socks for expected grandson with the yarn. It seems everything for little boys is shown in brown or denim these days, so these socks will work fine for him. I made a round of eyelet holes at the bottom of the ribbing to be able to use ties on the socks so they will stay on.

I also had bought some black finer, fingering wool yarn, so I will try that yarn for a pair for DS which he will learn to love, I hope. Solid black will be properly professional looking, and as he has a law internship next semester, he will get more use from the plain black since he will have to dress for work every day.

If it's not sock yarn, you should reinforce the heel/toe with thread. It'll make them last longer.

The only thing my place of employment DOESNT get upset about is my socks. For some reason, I'm allowed to have mismatching socks or socks that don't match my outfit at all - that show, mind you - but I'm not allowed to put spikes in my hair on a temporary basis for Halloween. You could probably get away with making him funkier socks.

~ Kit

ironkit-good suggestion re: using yarn designed specifically for socks. One other thing I do when knitting socks is to cast on using a slightly larger needle. ie: when knitting with a size 2 needles, I cast on with a size 4 and then switch back to 2's. It seems to eliminate some of the stress on the yarn when putting them on da feet.
The variety of sock yarns available is mind boggling. Don't you just want all of them??
Marsha

Well, I do have some black fingering sock yarn I also bought. I think he will get a pair of the black wool ones whether he wants them or not. He says his feet get cold all the time, so we'll see how they work.

I don't think you can go wrong with black. But it is sure hard for my old eyes to work with. I'm making a pair of fingerless gloves for DH right now and cannot wait to be done with them. Just started the second one.