fiber and sustenance

Hello dear readers! I hope this finds you well and, if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, enjoying a peaceful late summer! Today I’m excited to share my latest (and last, for awhile!) design, the Knapweed Socks! These toe-up, mid-calf socks feature textured buds and blooms reminiscent of Common Knapweed, a hearty, thistle-like wildflower that you’ll find blooming all summer long in the UK. So you can have a bit of summer meadow peeping out of your shoes or boots all year long!

The Knapweed Socks are knit from the toe up and feature 1×4 twisted rib, a short row heel, and, the stars, the textured buds and blooms! These are created using bobble and dip stitches, and the pattern has detailed written instructions and tips for working these. They are a lot of fun!

And if you are (like I often am) put off by the idea of all that reverse stocking stitch, good news! The socks are knit inside out from the toe up until right before you begin the bobbles, minimizing the need to purl. This resulted in one of my favorite unexpected features of the sock … I love the way the German short row heel looks once you turn the socks inside out … there’s something so pleasing about that little chain! (Side note: one of my fabulous testers reported that she successfully knit the whole sock inside out without any issues, so that’s a possibility as well, you’ll just need to do a little mental gymnastics!)

I’m really pleased to have these socks out in the world … especially because they really are my sock knitting happy place … pretty simple (I like simple socks as they tend to be my out and about project), but with a few details to keep things interesting! And while I knit these consecutively for portability, if you like knitting socks two at a time or have been wanting to try that technique, these are really well suited for it. I find toe-up socks are much easier to get set up for two-at-a-time knitting, and the simple pattern makes them a great option for this method.

For the pattern sample, I used one of my favorite no-nylon sock yarns, Mondim by Rosa Pomar (which also features in my Shorty Shorty Shorties [Rav link]!). I loved seeing my testers’ different versions of this sock — and let me take this chance to say a massive thank you to the fab group I had testing this pattern out! The pattern works well in a solid or semi-solid yarn, which lets the texture shine, but it also holds up really well in yarns with a bit of variation in them … it can really make the dip stitches pop! I also think these could be really fun in a very slow changing gradient yarn.

There were a few moments when I thought this pattern wasn’t going to make it out before the summer ended and a new wee babe joined our family, so I’m very pleased to be sitting at my desk this Monday morning, letting you know the socks are ready (and that baby is stilly happily ensconced in my belly!). As a thank you to you lovely blog readers for being here with me still, the code 38WEEKS will get you 10% off the Knapweed Socks from now through end of day Wednesday! You can purchase the socks over on Ravelry or in my Payhip shop (where, I’m afraid, I haven’t figured out discount codes yet … so if you’d like to purchase with the discount but can’t use Ravelry, just send me a note at fiberandsustenance@gmail.com and I’ll sort things!)