Colour Alchemy – my new socks
Do you enjoy knitting socks? If so, do you prefer stockinette stitch or a pattern? And which yarn do you favour – solid-coloured or gradient?
I genuinely enjoy knitting socks although it can be a slow process and it takes me ages to finish a pair. And I love to knit patterned socks. That’s why I prefer plain-coloured yarns.
Most patterns simply look better in a single colour. A variegated or a self-patterning yarn can easily look rather busy when combined with an additional pattern. Colour and pattern often end up competing with each other, and neither really comes into its own. So, I am definitely team plain-coloured! At least, mostly…!
On our last holiday by the North Sea, I spotted some gradient yarn and I had to get it — I just couldn’t resist the colours!
My yarn and what the pattern did to it
Lana Grossa
Meilenweit, 6-ply yarn
Mandola, colour 9500
Colour 9500 is a lovely mixture of orange, aubergine, fuchsia, dark grey and violet.
Mandola is a self-striping yarn and works up quite nicely.
Nevertheless, just knitting the socks in stockinette stitch and letting the yarn do the rest seemed a bit too boring to me. But what kind of pattern would be suitable for this yarn?
At first, I’d thought of a slip stitch pattern. But then I remembered a pattern I’d knitted some years ago. A combination of twisted knit stitches and purl stitches, arranged in a staggered pattern. I adapted it slightly and look what the pattern has done to the simple stripes:
It completely broke up the relatively large blocks of colour and turned them into a lovely, colourful mix that makes it impossible to make out the exact colour sequence!
Heel and toe
How much the pattern affected the colour sequence really became clear to me when I was knitting the heel.
I knitted a standard short-row heel, but I didn’t like the result at all! Luckily, I found a plain-coloured yarn that matched perfectly. And I much prefer this result!
However, I didn’t want to skip the usual two rounds between the short rows and the extended rows, nor did I want a purple stripe on the front. It was a bit more complicated, but I managed it!
To match the heel, I’ve also knitted the toe in a single colour. It was the first time that I knitted a round toe (or star toe). I was amazed at how simple it was to knit and it fits really well.
Conclusion
Although it took me around six months to finish this pair of socks, I am absolutely happy with how they turned out.
Unfortunately the yarn I used is discontinued by now. But I am sure the pattern will work with any other gradient yarn as well.
If you’re interested, I’ll be sharing details of how I knitted the socks in my next post.
