Accidental socks

Accidental socks

Sometimes the knitting needles have a mind of their own and all I can do is follow along. That’s what happened with these Accidental socks.

I wanted to try out two colour cast-ons and found a photo tutorial from Talena Winters. I picked up two balls of Regia from my stash without too much thought for the colours because I was going to try it, rip it out, and put the yarn back in my stash… but the knitting needles took control.

With a fun cast-on on the needles, I couldn’t put the stitches to waste and decided to modify a favourite ribbing pattern in to a two colour rib.

The result was so delightful that I continued knitting and realised I had a sock cuff without a sock… so I dug up a photocopy of a two-colour stranded knit sock (yes! the knitted sock was put in the photocopier!) that a woman in a Finnish yarn shop had given to me with the assurance that it was easy to knit. I’d looked at it a few times in the 18 months since I received it and had put it down again because I couldn’t figure out the repeats. It wasn’t an even pattern – the stitches swirl around the sock and the number of stitches appeared to change willy nilly.

Accidental socks

I decided I had to try (this bit of knitting was meant to frogged anyway, right?) so I sketched up a version of it and began to knit. The pattern was looking good until I reached the end of the first set of tilted diamonds where I realised I had to shift the pattern for it line up. I opened an Excel spreadsheet, copied in my sketched colour chart, and was able to offset the diamonds as they swirled for a few more repeats.

Pattern complete, I did a standard heel flap and gusset in a single yarn, a basic foot and an eight point star toe.

As wild as the socks are, I love them for their oddness. It’s the first time I’ve done colour work in a sock and figured out a shifting pattern.

And of course I had to cast on a second pair in a less wild colour scheme, going for a Finnish look with blue and white using Novita’s Nalle yarn. With this thicker yarn I’m testing out and adjusting the pattern on a different number of stitches and I’m hoping to be able to share this pattern on Ravelry in the near future.

Needle and yarn information can be found on my Accidental socks Ravelry project page.

Accidental socks