Now what?

Last fall, I was surprised and pleased when Mona of Dye Dreams asked if I’d like to design a sock for their sock club. Choice of yarn base? Choice of nearly solid colorway? Sure, sign me up!

Fast forward to Stitches West, where I had a delightful meeting with Mona and Stephanie, and walked away with this:

Lovely stuff, just lovely. And oh so shimmery.

I’ve swatched a number of stitch patterns since then, looking for just the right sinuous feel that invokes water: waves lapping on a beach, rivulets in the sand, that sort of thing. Here are two top contenders:

I love the flowing, overlapping look that both of these stitch patterns have. The question is: now that I’ve found stitch patterns that I like, what do I do with them? How do I place one or both within a sock design?

I’m tempted to use both. Unfortunately, their row repeats aren’t compatible (rivulets is 12 rows tall; little waves is 8), and tweaking the patterns to make them compatible would muck up the patterns too much, destroying what I like about them. (Ask me how I know.) So if they were placed side by side, they wouldn’t bend and sway in unison. Bummer.

Another option: use little waves in a foldover cuff, with rivulets flowing below. Hmm... maybe. I do like foldover cuffs for summer socks.

One more option: use little waves in a toe-up sock with a round toe, and end with the waves flowing into ribbing. Hmm... could be. Guess I have more swatching ahead of me.

What do you think?

Tagged: stash enhancement, swatching, lace.