Pattern Spotlight: Emerald City Socks by Lisa Ross

This week I’m excited to introduce the third pattern in my Socks of Oz collection: Emerald City.

I was so excited to collaborate with Anzula on this design and the pattern is perfectly paired with their Squishy base. If you’ve never used Squishy, you’re in for a treat for both your knitting hands and your sock-wearing feet. It combines incredible softness with a silky smooth twist. It glides between your fingers as each stitch is made and the footwear created is *almost* too soft and pretty for shoes. The subtle variegation in the semi-solid Anzula colorways pair perfectly with the lace design that extends up the instep of this design.

Although the lace along the front of the sock is the main feature, there are little details along the way that both the knitter and the wearer will appreciate. The one that makes me ridiculously happy are the lines of twisted rib that extend from the base of the heel all the way up to the cuff. These simple stitches create clean lines up the back of the leg reminiscent of the seamed stockings that were popular at the time the Wizard of Oz was released in theaters. It’s a modern twist on classic style.

The pattern includes lace that is both charted and written, as well as a photo tutorial for working a sewn bind-off for a flexible cuff. Though seemingly complex, this sock is easier than it looks with no wrapped or picked-up stitches. Best of all, there is a knitalong happening in the Paper Daisy Creations group. If you complete ONE sock by the end of May, you could be eligible to win one of the amazing prizes, including your own skein of Anzula Squishy! For more details, click here.

Just for being awesome, Anzula fans can purchase Emerald City for just $2 with the code ANZULA. The entire collection of four patterns is being released on Ravelry throughout the month of April, and for a limited time, is only $5 with code SOCKSOFOZ.

Happy Knitting!

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Pattern Spotlight: Phaeodaria Socks by Hunter Hammersen

Hunter Hammersen joins us this week with the inspiration behind her newest pattern, Phaeodaria in Haiku:

I'm easily distracted. I'm sure it says something unflattering about my character, but if you ask me to do the same thing all the way down a sock, there's every chance I'll get bored and wander off somewhere around the first heel turn. Given what I hear from other knitters, I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. These socks are my answer to that little problem.

The leg is one big, twisty, unapologetically intricate chart full of all sorts of cabled goodness. Now of course i understand that keeping those sort of shenanigans up through a whole sock might be a bit much (even the easily distracted among us want a break from time to time), so things do calm down a little on the foot. There you switch to a slightly more subdued cable that repeats every few rows (even then you're working a nifty center cross cable that I find unreasonably satisfying, so you won't wander off). The combination makes for a sock that holds your attention with out ever being too hard.

The lovely stitch patterns (and of course the name) were taken from the drawings of Phaeodaria (tiny marine organisms with amazingly complicated mineral skeletons) in Ernst Haeckel's 1904 book /Kunsformen der Natur/. I'm a sucker for old scientific illustrations and find them a marvelous source of design inspiration!

So if you're looking for a lovely sock that will keep you entertained, Phaeodaria might be just the ticket. And if you're looking for something a bit more subdued, you can totally come raid my knitting basket. I've got a whole stack of half knit socks that would very much love to be finished!

More patterns by Hunter featuring Anzula yarns:

In Case of Draughts
Argent
Interstices

What keeps you going on a project? Tell us in the comments!

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Continuing the Little Cable Knee Highs

So now you've knit the length of the foot and are ready to start the gusset of your sock. (Not there yet? See the first post explaining our Little Cable Knee High knitalong, get the pattern from the Purl Bee, and cast on!)

Kim's Slate sock is looking comfy already!

The gusset is made with simple yarnover increases. Don't forget to knit the yarnovers through the back loop as with the toe. You're increasing the number of stitches around your sock in preparation to start the heel.

Sylvia is just starting to turn the heel on her Chiva sock.

Once you've finished the gusset you are ready to turn the heel. Turning the heel means creating the small half-circle of stitches that makes the bottom of the sock extend to cover the heel and meet the heel flap. You turn the heel by using short rows. The Purl Bee offers a great tutorial here that takes the mystery out of this shaping technique, or check out the video at New Stitch a Day, and just wrap and turn! If this is your first time using short rows, you'll be excited to learn that you need not be intimidated, and as you use them you'll find that mastering them opens up a world of new pattern options!

Turning the heel creates the little wedge of stitches that is just under the heel flap, seen here on Charlie's Petunia sock.

One of the things that may seem strange if you haven't done this before is that you aren't knitting all the way across Needle 2 and Needle 3. Some stitches are left unknit on each side. As you follow the pattern, those stitches will be picked up. Also, during the process of turning the heel and knitting the heel flap, you are working only on Needle 2 and Needle 3. The stitches on Needle 1 will just wait until you are finished with the heel.

Up next - the leg, the cable, and the cuff. Rebecca's already finished one of her Coco socks!

No matter what stage you're in, come join the conversation on Ravelry - we've been talking about color choices, calf increases, needle sizes, and more. As you can see from the pictures, we are all in different places in the project so come join us!

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