hedera socks | Anna Bright designs

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05/07

finished object: hedera socks

Pattern: Hedera, by Cookie A

Yarn: Sundara Sock Yarn, in the colourway Night Blossom

Needles: 2.25 mm

Modifications: I followed Lickety Knit’s suggestion about how to even up the yarn over holes in the pattern.

Notes: These socks took me quite a long time to knit, mainly because summer hit in the middle of making them, and all of a sudden they felt more wintery than I did. But I love them! They are incredibly comfortable, and I am really happy with how the pattern holds its own against the slightly multi-coloured yarn.

I signed up for Sundara’s Seasons Club last year, as I was curious to find out what her yarn was like. It is very lovely, but I won’t be signing up again. It makes me feel uncomfortable having skeins of yarn shipped half way across the world; I would rather support some of the great dyers nearer home. Still, it was interesting to get a taster of this popular dyer’s work.

hedera hiccup

First of all, I’d like to thank you for your comments on my previous post. I feel pretty humbled by how many of you (almost) told me to get over myself! No, I know, none of you actually said that, you were all much too kind and tactful (and I thank you for that!). But, after reading your comments, I got the (luckily as yet unfrogged) cardigan out again and had a good look at it and, you know what? You were right. It really isn’t that bad at all. I will keep it as it is for now, and may well go back and finish it after the current version is done.

Today’s post is a salutary lesson about READING THE PATTERN!

I have been happily knitting away on my Hedera socks when I am on the train, and almost finished the first sock. As I’m sure many of you know, it is a lovely pattern to work on, not too complicated, yet not too boring. And I am loving the Sundara yarn that I’m using.

However, I made a mistake. I thought I could ignore it and that it wouldn’t bother me. I spotted the mistake quite early on, but tried to convince myself that I wouldn’t mind about it. Honestly, who was I trying to kid? It’s not like I am known for my uber-relaxed attitude to, well, anything really, so I’m not sure why this would be an exception…

And the mistake? Well, after knitting the heel, the pattern requires you to pick up 25 stitches on each side to form the gusset. You knit the first row after that into the back of the stitch, to avoid making holes. After that, each row is supposed to be knit normally.

Instead, I continued to knit every other row with the stitches twisted. I did actually like it, so decided to keep going with it for a while. The stitch pattern turned out to look really pretty with the variegated yarn. But when I got to the end of the gusset decreases, I didn’t like how the stocking stitch and the twisted stitch parts joined together.

I know that this will not show when I’m wearing them but, for me, that isn’t really the point. I don’t just knit things to wear, I like taking the time to do and redo if necessary, and to get things just how I want them. This is really the one area of my life where I allow my perfectionist tendencies full rein, and doing so makes me happy.

So, on the second sock, I knit the sock as specified in the pattern:

I thought it was nice enough to frog the first sock and re-knit it. So I am.

new project: hedera socks

Last year I signed up for Sundara‘s Season’s Yarn Collection. One of the yarns I received was a skein of Sock yarn, in Night Blossom. This yarn is a very beautiful deep, almost black purple, with flashes of reddish-pink and purple highlights peeping through.

I thought it would look good as a lacy sock – probably a legacy of my time as a goth; my love for purple and black lace remains undiminished, if somewhat less requited now than in those dark, dark days!

I found a pattern I liked, Violets Rising by Anne Hanson, which I started knitting a few days ago. However, I think the pattern needs either a totally solid yarn, or one that is lighter in colour than this one. And I think this yarn needs a pattern that stands out a bit more against the dark colours. So, I started again, this time with Cookie A.’s Hedera pattern.

The Violets Rising sock is on the left, and the Hedera one is on the right.

I think the lines of twisted rib that go down the Hedera really help to separate and delineate the lace sections, and make the whole pattern easer to read. So, I’ve frogged the first sock and am now working on two Hederas at once. I’m thinking these will be great to wear with my black yoga pants!