Rivendell

Once again, I knitted a pair of green socks. Someone might think there's a color theme going on.

What: Rivendell / Janel Laidman

How: Circular needle 2.25 mm

From: Miss Babs Tarte, 67 g

Fine. I'll admit right away, this pair is the latest addition to the Box of Socks.

When I was planning on making a box of socks, I paired up green yarns from my stash with sock patterns from my Ravelry library that I've been meaning to knit for quite some time. Now it was time to cast on with this lovely Miss Babs Tarte prize yarn from my Tour de Sock winnings from few years ago.

The yarn was an interesting one. It had the usual merino and nylon - but also a bit of tencel. The internet tells me tencel is an ecological fibre made out of eukalyptus trees. Some years ago, I tried spinning with 50/50 merino/tencel and hated every second of it as the fibre kept on breaking constantly. It was much nicer to work with tencel yarn someone else had spun.

The yarn felt a bit too cottonlike for my taste but otherwise it was nice. Tencel gave it a really pretty sheen but the best thing about the yarn are these colors. Usually, I'm more into subtle semisolids but the play of greens and blues is gorgeous.

The sock pattern is one I've been drooling over for years but only now found the time to cast on. The socks were knitted cuff down and all the exciting things happened right away. The socks have a really beautiful leaf pattern I couldn't put down before finishing the chart. And before that, there were a bunch of rows with wrapped stitches.

Wrapping stitches can be quite fun but one must remember to be careful not to wrap too thight. I remember to keep the yarn loose while wrapping but made the mistake of knitting the wrapped stitches so thight that it thightened the wrapping yarn as well. Duh... So I ended up with socks that are a bit too tight at the calves. Luckily, these won't go to my sock drawer but to someone with slightly slimmer legs.

Once you get pass the leaf patterns, there's just stockinette stitch on the sole and some twisted ribbing. Very relaxed. I modified the pattern such that I continued the twisted ribbing all the way to the tip of the toes.

These socks were fun and entertaining to knit. I can highly recommend the pattern. And the Box is starting to look like something - though I still have many pairs to knit.