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For later (i.e. C15th) Socks most certainly do exist in the written records and are specifically mentioned in relation to feet and alongside hose. As to their construction ... that's a question I can't answer I'm afraid.

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Originally posted by Dave Key:
(i.e. C15th) Socks most certainly do exist

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Dave,

I'd love to learn or help to verify that this is true as I too have looked for evidence regarding socks. (The modern knit variety.) I had a long series of conversations about this very question between Royal Armouries, Angela Essenhigh and a contact of hers from Germany in museum clothing research (whose name I never learned unfotuntely. The conclusion at that time was that KNIT clothing generally did not yet exist.

Going from memory although I have the specific emails around here somewhere... Except, for certain hats/head covering which was just coming into play, certain pouch/bag accessories, and certain styles of clothing far to the north (viking related - Sweden, Lapland), that there was not any credible evidence supporting any other knit clothing. (I'm not saying that evidence does not exist but that she and her contacts had not yet found any credible proof at that time.) And that the few clothing references of leggings were extra layers of the same construction of hosen aka woven fabric.

The MoL Textiles and Clothing book does have some 14th century knit fragments, and there are several sources which describe knit liturgical gloves of the 14th-15th centuries (including Die Liturgisches Gewandung im Occident und Orient by Joseph Braun, and Textile Conservation and Research by Mechthild Fleury-Lemberg).

You might also be interested in the 14th century Swiss relic pouches in Mittelalterliche Textilien in Kirchen und Klöstern der Schweiz by Brigitta Schmedding, or the 13th century Spanish pillows in El Panteon Real de las Huelgas de Burgos by Manuel Gómez-Moreno.

These and other sources are discussed in an annotated bibliography on the history of knitting. The people on the HistoricKnit mailing list may have additional suggestions.

As to the original question in the thread, there are pictures of the "Coppergate sock" at York Archaeology Artefacts Alive, as well as some related information on a Regia Anglorum webpage. This site has an excellent bibliography and other resources on the subject of nålbinding. Nålebinding Techniques in the Viking Age might also be useful for you, and there is a mailing list for those interested in the technique as well.

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There are examples of leg bindings (like puttees), woolen strips 2-3 inches wide rolled around the legs. They add warmth, and a bit of protection against brush.

And there are examples of socks made using nálbinding techniques (insanely complicated knotting technique, rather than knitting). Based on the living history stuff I've done, I'd have to say socks are _not_ an option in
winter. Without them, the shoes soak through and the feet get dangerously cold in a hurry.

I bought a pair of mittens this summer for about 20 EURO.