Patently Snug

patent stitch socks, started on a snowy Christmas eve, are finally finished. These shouldn't have taken so long, but they were my backup project and I ended up only working on them on Saturdays when meeting with other knitters. Last weekend I hunkered down to get them finished. This week I've managed to forget to take pictures of them while there was still daylight until today. Here they are!

This is a fun technique which I can highly recommend. Like a lot of new knitting methods, it takes a little getting used to. If you'd like to try it, take a class from Merike Saarniit if you have a chance. A friend of mine who took a class from her recently mentioned that she is going to have a book about patent stitches coming out soon. Can't wait!

These turned out better than I thought they would. They look very different off my feet than on -- the ribbing really stretches out, revealing a cool pattern that you don't see when the socks are lying flat. While I like the effect, it's doubtlessly enhanced by the fact that these are a bit snug. I would either knit this up needle size next time (these were done on size 0 needles), or maybe up the number of circumference stitches. If you've been following along at home, I cast on 2/3 of the normal 72 stitches (48) that I usually start with, because the first time I started these they were enormously wide. I think I got closer, but next time I might shoot for 3/5 of the stitches or something a little bigger. I can still get them on, but they are snug. And you can see that the ribbing pulls further down the heel than it probably should.

Next up -- more sock. I may have mentioned this earlier, but I've got the urge to try my hand at argyle socks. I've wanted to do an argyle pattern and try some intarsia knitting which I haven't done in a while. Rather than do a sweater or vest (which I'd like to tackle sometime), I thought starting with socks would be better. Since intarsia virtually impossible to knit in the round, these socks will be knit flat with a seam down the back and, yes, down the middle of the heel and sole. Should be interesting.

I ordered some yarn from the Simply Socks Yarn Co. this week that I thought might work. It arrived today. The gray, which I was pleasantly surprised to see is heathered, is the main color. My original plan was for the navy and the blue to be the two other diamond colors, with the burgundy as the cross-hatching color. But that was before I saw how electric the blue is. Now I'm thinking of using the navy and the burgundy as the diamond colors and the electric blue as the cross-hatch. Or maybe I should just ditch the idea of the electric blue altogether and see if I can find a white, pale yellow or tan that will work? Please readers -- advise me!

I'm going to start swatching this weekend. The pattern I will be using is the Men's Argyle Socks pattern in Retro Knits, based on an old Bernat pattern from 1945.