Project: Skew! from Knitty by Lana Holden
Needles: size 0 Addi Turbos
Yarn: Austermann Step, one of my favorite sock yarns. It has aloe and jojoba!
What inspired me to try this pattern: I was poking around on the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry, as I typically do when I am not quite sure what sock pattern to try next and my queue isn't helping me. I wanted something really original and fun. Right now I have gotten to the point where I could knit socks without even looking at a pattern if I wanted to. Well, at least for toe-up socks, which is my preferred method. I needed something more adventurous!
They were originally supposed to be for me, but when I got the first toe done I realized they were way too big. I see there are now some fit modifications for different sizes on the designer's blog, but either that wasn't there when I started or I was too lazy to notice. Oh well, they look great on him. Check out the back!
Why this pattern was fun: Well, look at them! The socks are knitted with decreases and increases placed just so in a way to create a diagonal stripe! Genius. It made me think a lot about how sock patterns are engineered. I really admire the designer's effort and can't imagine how long it took for her to work all this out. Now I want to try some crazy unconventional sock design for myself!
Why this pattern was a challenge: It takes a certain suspension of disbelief to knit away, thinking as you about how this misshapen thing looks NOTHING like a sock! Then after you get through the (very tricky) heel, voila! It's suddenly sock shaped. Much rejoicing was done.
Another challenge is I am used to the ease of knitting two socks at once, which wasn't an option for this. I supposed a very talented, focused knitter that wanted to flip back and forth between pages a lot might be able to do it, at least until the leg (after that the sock is no longer worked in the round). Actually, now that I think about it I am not even sure if this is possible. Regardless, I did one at a time and the pattern was fun enough to keep me going.
What I would change of I did it again: I am not sure if there's anything that can be done about this, but I don't like how to socks bunch at the top of his foot. See?
Not a huge deal, and apparently it doesn't impact the comfort of the socks, but it's the kind of knit-picky thing that drives me crazy. Knit-picky, see what I did there?
I definitely recommend this pattern and am really enjoying seeing what other people have come up with on the Ravelry projects page.
Until next time!
