Cool Wave

This August – and the Summer of Socks 2009 – closes with a summer cool wave. Y'know, the opposite of a heat wave. And after tropical quantities of heat and rain, I'm loving the temperate weather and this excellent pattern, Clouds Socks by Rebecca A. The felicitous combination of colors and shapes make me think of water, the late Sen. Kennedy and his love of sailing, and the decades-long drought in the U.S. West.



Clouds is perfect for self-striping yarn, in this case Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett, colorway 4261 Landscape Caribbean. The clouds are formed by w&t short rows. There's only one sock at the moment (which would benefit from blocking), but I'm not stressing about that.



Ordinarily I avoid short row heels and toes because of fit issues, but they seemed fitting technique-wise, so that's what I knit (gasp!). I substituted the yo short row heel and toe from Priscilla's Dream Socks by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts for the w&t short rows. I also used zigzag bind off to emphasize the undulating stripes. Some find the technique fussy and the resulting ridge bothersome; I like the decorative effect – we'll see how it wears.

Meanwhile, Molly's happy Horcrux Sock is coming along: the lace section and calf shaping are finished, on to the heel.



Despite my distraction and meager output this year, I'm glad to have participated in SOS – and I'm glad it was low stress. As always, many thanks go to Jessica and her helpful elves for an excellent knit-along!