These are serious contention to be my new favourite socks. I finished them last weekend and have already worn them three times, which is a pretty solid indication of knitterly satisfaction (and also why the heels look a little dull in this photo – they need a wash).

I have too much Christmas knitting in front of me to cast on another pair of these socks for myself, but there will be more pairs in my future. I’m going to poke around for a good self-striping yarn, I think, for my next pair, because how much fun would that be?

That being said, I loved watching these socks come together. Maybe I’m just easily amused, but watching the colours stack up was really enjoyable, as was seeing the way the colours slowly made their way around the socks. Honestly, I’m not sure this yarn is capable of pooling (or I just got lucky with the dye lot). My favourite colours in this yarn, though, were the ones that appeared as the main colours shifted. There’s a green/grey/blue in this yarn that is the exact colour of the underside of spruce needles, and every time it arrived on my needles I got a little excited to see where it would land. Those in-between colours never lasted more than two or three stitches at a time, but they were so glorious I didn’t even care.

I will say that these are among the more rigid socks I’ve knit. It might have a little to do with the yarn, which was lovely but not super stretchy, but in general the chevron pattern is not very stretchy. The width of these socks is perfect for me, but my high arch means I have to tug a little to get my foot into them. I did add a few rows to the heel flap, but next time I might add a few more, just to add a little more stretch in that area. It’s something to think about if you’re planning to knit these and, like me, have high arches.

Details
Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina
Yarn: Fleece Artist BFL Sock in Spruce
Needle: 2.25mm Clover bamboo dpns
Modifications: The main modification I made was to cast on the number of stitches required for the small, knit the ribbing, and then increase eight stitches evenly across the first plain row so the rest of the sock was knit in size medium. I originally planned to just go up a needle size after the ribbing, but I liked the fabric I was making, so I stuck it out. I also added a few rows to the heel flap, and just knit my normal toe instead of the one in the pattern (mostly because I didn’t even think to look at the toe in the pattern until after the first sock and then decided they should match, so I did it the same way on sock 2.) Ravelled here.