Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Ones

When I first moved back to the US a year ago (yep, July 5 was one year,) I spent 6 weeks with my mom in Marin County before moving to Passaic. And it was there that I finally got to meet up with a knitting group instead of being a lone knitter. The lovely ladies of EweKnitty meet up Sunday mornings at the Starbucks in Mill Valley. If you're ever in the area you must stop in. And it was during those meet ups that I was first drawn to knitting socks. Sock Sensei Laura was just completing her pair of Embossed Leaves and I knew I had to make those socks. They were The Ones. The socks that inspired me try this out for myself.

Before I left Marin I had bought some Jitterbug in Bright Charcoal. I cast on for something but it wasn't working out and I didn't want to waste the good stuff. So I bought some Sockatta. But I didn't get to work on anything until I moved to NJ. It was in September that I completed my first sock. A complete disaster! Then there was a series of failed attempts at Jaywalker. And finally common sense took over. In November I made myself a well fitting, plain vanilla pair from KP Essential. Well almost plain vanilla. Peacock Picot had a picot edge and an Eye of Partridge heel. I had to do something beyond basic. A pair of Gwen's made for H-J J followed, (she has yet to receive them, something which MUST be remedied!) And during a visit back to CA I made my first toe-ups, Firestarter. The rest, as they say, is history. I became a sock fanatic.

And yet the socks that started it all, The Ones, had yet to be made. I will still shaky on understanding my feet, which yarn would work well for what, what size needle to use for any given cast on to make sure the sock would fit my wide-ish size 10 feet. And finally, the planets aligned, the Sundara Sock yarn in Sky was wound into a cake and I cast on. No mods, no changes, just followed those directions as they were written. The leaf pattern really is intuitive and I was able to read my work so I wasn't tied to the chart. The first sock knit up quite quickly and if it hadn't been for my own wanderlust this pair would have been completed in May. But I waited until July 1 to cast on for the second sock, and one week later it was done.

This pattern is a great example of why socks do indeed need to be blocked.

So it is with great joy and great pride that I present my finished Embossed Leaves. The Ones that made me a sock knitter:

Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt
Interweave Knits Favorite Socks
Needles: US 2 / 2.75 mm KP fixed circs
Yarn: Sundara Sock
Colorway: Sky


Closeup of stitch pattern and gusset,

heel,
and star toe.

The combination of soft, soft yarn, the color and design just make me smile when I look at them. Heaven.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are amazing socks!!! :) Congratulations on your expertise in the sockknitting world! Way to go! samm

Anonymous said...

I never would have thought of doing them in that color. Beautiful! That pattern is a classic.