striped feet

A rare finished project! Okay, it's just socks, and not a fancy colorwork sweater. But since I've been working on such huge-scale, slow-going projects, it feels good to finish something.



yarn: Lorna's Laces (can't find the label to give you the colorway)
pattern: 64 stitches, size 1 needles, 3x1 ribbing, basic leg-down heelflap and gusset construction, details made up as I knit it

I can't get over how cool the inside of the sock looks. 3x1 ribbing in a striping yarn is really nice. It reminds me of someone pulling a knife through multicolored frosting.



And of course, the modeled shot:



Notice the Koigu. I decided to hand-ball it this weekend. I just had an urge to do it. I lent my swift to a friend, and even though it would have been really easy to use the ball winder with my knees acting as a swift, I realized it had been a really long time since I wound a ball by hand. I really enjoyed doing so with the Koigu. It's obviously wonderful to touch, but the colors are also so gorgeous that it was worth it to see them slipping through my hand in slow motion, instead of the blur you get with a ball winder.

I cast on for Diagonal Rib socks (from a subscriber-only IK pattern) last night, but that didn't last long. I was inspired by this lovely rendition of the pattern, but it just wasn't going to happen with the Koigu. I think the shade I have is too busy for that pattern. Also, the pattern, while not difficult, was just too fiddly for what I'm in the mood for right now. It doesn't divide nicely onto 4 needles (I despise the DPN triangle, and always go for a 4 needle square), and doesn't seem like it's the type of pattern that will be easy to read by looking at my knitting. I'm in the mood for something that I can put down for a few days, and pick up without having to consult a pattern to find my place. I'm in the mood for a pattern that shows mistakes easily - if I screw up, I want it to be immediately noticeable. And I just want something that jives with my fingers right away, and that wasn't happening with this one. There wasn't a rhythm that was easy for me to get into. I want rhythmic socks.

I'm looking for suggestions of patterns that will work well with my Koigu. I want something along the lines of Retro Ribs or Go With the Flow - patterns that have a definite rhythm, and which are interesting to knit, but might also work with fairly busy sock yarn. My ideal sock pattern (at the moment):

• incorporates some sort of ribbing (fit above fashion - ribbing just fits better than anything else)
• something I can memorize after a few repeats
  
• easily divides onto 4 DPNs
• more interesting than plain ribbing
• works well with very variegated yarn (no dominant color, as far as I can tell)

Maybe I'll just end up going with Retro Ribs or GWTF. I've knit both before (Retro Ribs 3 times - twice for me), but that's okay, I suppose. I know from reading other blogs that both patterns work surprisingly well with a variegated yarn. GWTF could be really pretty in this yarn with sandals and a Spring-y skirt. Then again, Spring is also known as "mud season" in New Hampshire, and that pattern eats yarn really quickly. It may not be practical to even think of wearing nice sandals this Spring, or to think of knitting a yarn hungry sock in Koigu, which is relatively skimpy on yardage.

Do any of you have suggestions that meet my picky detailed criteria?

I'm heading down to the library to pick up Folks Socks, so maybe there will be something in there. I don't remember the patterns in it very well, and have been trying to get my hands on it for a while. I may decide to start knitting my Sockapalooza socks, instead. I really can't buy any yarn right now, but I think that the blue and white merino I started using for the Komi socks would be perfect for my sock pal's requests. She has pretty small feet, so I should be able to get a pair of socks out of what I have left, without having to frog any of the unfinished Komi sock. I'm thinking blue as the main color, with white toes and heels. Whatever I decide, I really need to get new socks on the needles soon.

(Word to the wise: don't try to use the spell check in the Google toolbar in Blogger. Sorry if you saw a weird version of this post earlier. Hopefully I fixed all the problems the spell checker caused. bah.)

and another edit, since Bloglines hasn't yet picked up this post: I just found this blog post. I think she knit those Go With The Flow socks in the same colorway of Koigu that I have. It looks a tiny bit different, but is still quite similar, and the colorway code sounds familiar. They're gorgeous socks. I'm even more tempted, now, to use that pattern. My pair of GWTF socks are currently at the LYS, participating in the sock contest. I miss them. (Not that I won't get them back before I would finish my next pair of socks, anyway...)

Maybe I'll ponder things as I brave the icky weather to go to the library.