While riding in the car to and from my nephew’s baptism last Sunday, I was able to get quite a bit of knitting done on the untitled/diamond camo socks. And even more Sunday evening. Unfortunately, I discovered I would not have enough yarn. The first sock is now waiting to be frogged and will be remade later, probably as a toe-up version, on needles one size larger (the pattern stitches came out too dense/firm on US1, although stockinette was perfectly fine at that size). Lana Grossa Cool Wool comes in a ball just barely enough to get one sock out of (I think).
So, since I won’t “officially” know how to knit a toe-up sock until tomorrow (knitting class at Yarns R Us), the diamond camo sock will have to wait. And it may even take on a different pattern. We shall see. In the meantime, I’ve been inspired by that same diamond stitch pattern to knit a pair of what I’m calling Corn Snake Socks. As I was working on the diamond camo socks, the diamond pattern began to remind me of snakeskin. Last weekend at Yarns R Us, I picked up a ball of Trekking XXL sock yarn in a rust/red-orange colorway. The color reminds me of the color of a corn snake. And there you have it — diamond pattern + red-orange Trekking = Corn Snake Socks.
Take a look at this picture of my best friend, Mela, doing one of her reptile shows — that’s a corn snake she’s holding there. Now look at the WIP sock photo above. See the resemblance in color? (Trust me, it’s closer than it looks — the photo above came out a little light!)
Anyway, I took what I learned from the diamond camo socks and made a change for Corn Snake. Even though the Trekking yarn I’m using is thinner than the Cool Wool, I wanted to make sure the fabric wouldn’t get too firm and dense in the pattern stitch area of the sock. So the first change I’m making is to use one needle size larger (US2) for the pattern stitch area. I’m still using US1 needles for the ribbing, heel flap, and foot. Secondly, the pattern stitch is only going to be on the leg of the sock — I’m not going to continue it onto the instep. This is primarily because I ended up missing one leg of a diamond every few rows on one side. There’s probably a way to fix that, but I didn’t really want to try to figure it out this time around. Plus, with the pattern area being a little thicker fabric, I wanted to leave a little more room in my shoe. I think the foot will probably just be plain stockinette (or possibly a 3×1 rib, we’ll see).
I’m loving this pattern and this yarn, though. I’m getting a subtly striped pattern that ranges from red-orange to orangey-brown to deep red. And I think I might just have to make another pair of these for Mela, too.
