Monica Knits

Grey Sock DetailWinter's are cold and the snow is deep where my parent's live, so I decided to knit a pair of wool socks for my mom, my first best friend, whom I love dearly. I later learned that my mother reserved her handknit socks for special occasions like doctor's visits. She explained that clients had to remove their boots outside the waiting room, so she wanted her stockinged feet to look good. When asked where she got her variegated, blue-striped socks, with a mother's pride she announced that her daughter had knitted them for her. Since my original intent was that these be comfortable, everyday socks, I had to knit another pair.

Moms SocksThen I saw Austerman's grey, self-striping Step yarn at Mary Maxim's--grey is my mother's favorite neutral color. It wasn't only my mother's colors that attracted me to these yarns, but the jojoba and aloe vera oils, designed to last 40 washes. These oils made the yarn wonderfully soft to knit with, in addition to pampering feet. Naturally, I had first tested the yarn for myself.

I paired the sock gift with a stocking stuffer of Burt's Bees^RT Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme, for her feet. I find this is the best product for healing and preventing dry, cracked feet in winter, a sometimes condition both my mother and I have experienced.

Since I had already knitted her basic socks and I like trying new patterns, I decided to try the Cable Rib Sock designed by Erica Alexander. My mother's name is Erika, so Erica's sock was destined for her. I selected this pattern because rib patterns have good fit and comfort and I believed the cable would make it look less like a work sock.

Grey Striped Cable SockDesign Features: The variegated, grey striped socks have an overall 2x1 rib design for great fit, accented with paired cables on either side. Erica's original design was executed in a solid mustard colored yarn of cotton/wool/nylon which gave good stitch definition. In my interpretation, the socks were knitted with a self-striping yarn, and the cables got lost in the pattern.

Design Tips: The rib pattern throughout provides comfort and fit and the aloe/jojoba oils softness (noticeable even while knitting). When using a self-striping yarn, I like both socks to look the same, so I'm careful to start the second sock at the same point in the color pattern. This sock taught me that the self-striping yarn is its own design statement, so select other embellishments, like cables carefully to avoid losing them in the stripes.

Pattern Sources:
Variegated, blue-striped socks: Austermann Step Yarn (blue/grey), Basic Socks

Variegated, grey-striped rib socks: Austermann Step Yarn (greys), "Cable Rib Socks," in Favorite Socks, 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave, Ann Budd and Anne Merrow, editors, Interweave Press, Loveland, CO, 2006, pp. 73-75. Pattern by Erica Alexander.