Off We Go Adventuring

Yesterday I began a quest to sort out my knitting problem and a dearth of simple sock knitting.  I succeeded admirably.

After I posted yesterday, before I put the boxes back in its closet, I pulled out some yarns that I thought I might work on.

I pulled out this skein because I really didn't think I was ever going to need it for knitting.  It is a colour I thought would work for a project, but that whole project did not work out.

I thought I would throw it into the bin of yarns I don't really love (it's a pretty small bin) and use it for a weaving project as I learn to weave.  But something happened.

As yarns were pulled and piled, this unwanted skein came to land beside a skein I have loved for years.  It is one of my earlier buys of sock yarn and I love it as much now as I did then.  Austermann Step, treated with Jojoba Oil and Aloe Vera.  It is lovely to knit with. 

I am sure you can see what I saw. There is no splash this exact shade of lilac in the Step, but everything about it coordinates.  I wondered what would happen if I used them together.  Problem was, I really did not want a strong lilac element.  Stripes were not going to work.  I wasn't sure what would work, but I thought that if there was an answer for these yarns together, it was going to from one of two patterns that I have used before.

I looked at the Ugly Duckling pattern.

I gave away both pairs I made using this pattern, and would really like a pair of my own. I thought it could work, using the lilac as the colour of the strong vertical lines and the darker colours to be the punchy little squares.

I thought about the Broken Seed Stitch Sock pattern.  I thought the lilac again would be great forming the lines that seem to cross with the darker colour standing in the background.  I ended up going with this pattern for no particular reason other than I remember them being a very easy and speedy knit. Colours alternate each row, in other words, stripes and it would feel like a fast knit.   

And then I made a small misstep in my plan, but found magic instead.

The lilac is acting as the background colour and the darker yarn is the one that make the design cross and weave, opposite of my original plan, but I think I love this more.  

It looks like frost, as if they were put outside and Jack Frost touched them with his magic wand on a cold morning.  No single colour is too strong. No element stands out.  Just perfectly blended, soft and dainty socks.

I have a very large skein of the darker so heels, cuffs and as you see, toes are the darker colour.  If I can, I will use stripes in the cuff, to better match the spirit of the rest of the socks.  The strong dark at the top might ruin the pretty softness of the rest.  

Yesterday was an adventure and like all things, some good and some bad. Windsheild very good, lawyering, just stupid, but at the end of the day, I had this lovely thing to focus on and that made the whole days adventure worth it.

I start another pair, a more plain pair of socks today. Not sure which yarn yet.  That is today's adventure!