Frankensocks
Frankenstein's monster was supposed to be made from the best parts of many corpses, but it didn't work out so well. Every pair of socks I make is a selection of parts from different patterns. I like rolled tops for toe up socks, and hemmed tops for top down ones. The Sherman heel is awesome, but the garter stitch flap heel is nifty too. I need to try more grafted toes to practice. Lace patterns tend to be panels swiped from pattern and slotted in where I chose. They have to either mirror or be identical, I've reversed patterns before calm my pattern-matching twitch.
In other words, I made up a pattern for Heather's Christmas socks to take the edge off knitting the Flutter scarf and I hope it doesn't turn out like a monster, or pursue me across the snow and kill me. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Chagrin. I love this yarn, it's got some nylon for toughness but still feels soft.
It has these elements:
- Toe up, because she wants it as long as possible. Heather is tall.
- 8st easy toe because the increases look tidy.
- Centered lace panel, or two side panels.
- Toe up heel flap with reinforced stitch pattern for toughness.
- 2x2 ribbing on the rear of the cuff to help it stay up.
- Rolled brim for stretchiness.
I'm using the lace pattern from Monkey for the top of the foot, and I found a toe up heel flap tutorial to follow (PDF link). Planning to put the eye of partridge pattern on the back of the heel.