Light-Hearted Mockery

I've been much caught up, the last few days, in watching the Tour de France and treadling the spinning wheel for the Tour de Fleece. But I did find the time to bring the Mockery socks to a happy conclusion.

The pattern is from live2knit's Katie Grady, here. It's quite a nice stitch pattern -- easy knitting, considering the pretty effect you get.

I knit these with US size 0 needles and Dancing yarn, a cotton-wool-elastic blend from Knit Picks, now discontinued.

(I have to say, though, Patons' new Stretch Socks yarn, from the fiber blend and the picture, looks an awful lot like the same yarn.)

The yarn texture works well in the pattern, but the strong color changes do tend to hide the fancy stitchwork. So the stitch pattern is sort of a hidden delight, something to enjoy secretly, except when the light hits it just right and reveals it for all to see.

I especially like the way the eye-of-partridge heel stitch looks in this yarn. It almost makes a trellis-work of color.

I knit the pattern with very little modification. I did need to add a few extra rows to the heel flap, since I got a slightly different row gauge with the Dancing yarn than called for, making them mighty tight around the instep. I didn't add any repeats to the leg, though. I liked it a little on the short side for these summery cotton socks.

I think I may actually end up wearing these socks a lot more often than the others I've made for myself so far. While my sweet family members happily wear the socks I've knit for them, I have to admit I don't often wear my own. Hand-knit socks are thicker than skinny commercial ones, and most of my shoes don't have room for them. Of course, I can solve that sooner or later by buying some new shoes sized for wearing with my beautiful handmade wool socks. It may also be that I'm subconsciously reluctant to wear them, thinking they'll wear out. Maybe I can fix that by making more, until I have a whole drawerful!

But in the meantime, these light-hearted cottony socks seem perfect for sneakers, which of course are already designed for thicker socks. I even have a pair that will work well with these cheerful colors. These are going to be fun.