Kelly's sock

The single most memorable and resonant description of socks in all of art: Carey’s Ned Kelly pulls on a pair for the first time in his life at the age of fourteen:

My darling girl your father never knew what he were looking at for he never wore socks in all his life. He sometimes put grass inside his bluchers it had served him well till now. The cove showed him how to arrange the sock correctly and it were a wonder of a thing just to see it turn the corner at the heel. You must not laugh at him for being so simple. [p.82]

No indeed! How sweet (what clever writing) to emblemmatise turning the corner via a sock. And turning the corner is central to Kelly's story.