Who knew socks could be so glamorous?

The first pair of socks I knit were for BN. He picked out a lovely reddish-orange yarn and I designed a simple-but-interesting chain/rib pattern for the cuff. They were fun to knit, and came out very nice if I do say so myself. But, I ran out of yarn right before the toe on the second sock! I had to go buy an additional skein just to get those 20 or so yards I needed to finish the project. The leftovers were plenty to make myself a pair and I found the perfect pattern – “Tiger Eyes” by Margaret K. K. Radcliffe from Socks, Socks, Socks. The intricate, swirling pattern that runs up the front is so exotic and appealing – this project caused a stir in my knitting group. This is one of the first really detailed lace projects that I’ve done – I had to pay attention closely to the chart. This project followed my 3 rules for successful socks:

1. Knit them toe-up. Not that my first sock-knitting project scarred me or anything! Seriously, though, toe-up prevents the dreaded run-out-of-yarn problem and I love long socks so if I knit them toe-up I can make them as long as the yarn lasts.

2. Must contain ribbing. They will certainly sag, bag, and bunch around the ankles otherwise. It’s best to make at least part of the sock leg ribbed so that it has a chance to stay up… I’ve knit several pairs now where the details and beauty are on the front and the back is ribbed. In this case, a pretty mock-cable rib keeps it un-boring and more in key with the complexity of the tiger-eye motif on the front.

3. Repeat after me: Cat Bordhi rules! Her “new pathways for sock knitters” allows me to take any sock design or stitch pattern and adapt it to my size. In this case I used the “riverbed” architecture.

Ravelry link