This project started years and years ago when I saw this project by Shilao on Ravelry. I saw it in passing and thought it was a super cute color combo. Then when I saw Knit Picks was having a sale on their Felici sock yarn and this colorway was part of the sale, this project officially came into existence. Knit Picks is a great yarn company that I've bought from for years, but at the time they were discontinuing their Felici yarn and selling it off. That was back in 2017 and happily they have brought their Felici yarn back since then, but since it seemed the yarn would be no more and I had always hear people sing its praises, I bought a bunch of different colorways for my stash. This is the Jamboree colorway. The original inspiration used the Jamboree and Salt Water Taffy colorways, but I knew this pattern would still look cute with only the one colorway. Anyway, I happened to have Cascade Heritage in Dark Plum on hand, so this pair of socks was born.
I started knitting these in February of 2018. At first, all was well. I knitted the ankle of the first sock, used my beloved Smooth Operator Socks pattern for the heel to keep the stripe pattern uninterrupted (I also used this for the toe), and then continued knitting down the foot. I was almost to the toe of the first sock when I tried it on ... and realized that the double decrease that makes the chevron pattern put a line of bumps directly down the center of the bottom of my foot. It wasn't outlandishly painful or anything, but it was a bit uncomfortable to walk on. I knew this would be a problem with wearing these, so I made the decision to pull out the entire foot of the sock and try again with making the bottom of the foot plain. This took some finagling of the pattern. I thought I had it figured out, but honestly I was always just trying things on the go since this was my take along project for a while and I never sat down to really count the stitches and decide the best course of action. So I knitted along, got to the same part just before the toe, tried it on ... and I had been subtly decreasing the entire foot :/ As in now the sock was too tight. This was a rookie mistake and I should have known, but even so I had to pull it out AGAIN and reknit the foot. This third time, I figured out that on one side of the upper foot I was decreasing, so on the opposite side I had to increase to compensate. This made the sock stay the same size, but it caused the design to spin around the foot, lol. In the end, I figured no one would notice it but me, so I just kept knitting and finished the sock. I DID NOT want to pull it out yet again. I doubt anyone will see it when I wear the socks anyway. But now that I tell you, I'm sure you will see it in the photos.
For the second sock, I figured it out before I started knitting the foot. What a novel idea, right? I'm a lazy knitter, what can I say. So the second sock basically turned out perfectly, while the first sock actually leans to one side when it's not on a foot, lol. I'm just happy that the chevron design stands out like it does, which I think hides my little adjustment, which looks like this:
When I noticed that the pattern was swirling, I had to compensate to prevent the pattern from ending up on the bottom of my foot again, so I moved the decrease over every other line as I went for a time. One of the times I moved the decrease, I went one stitch too far and I wound up with an odd little jog in the line of decreases. Again, I had ripped this out enough times and it wasn't bad enough for me to rip it out again. It's on the side of my foot. I will be the only person seeing it. Done is better than perfect!
Lol eventually on the swirling sock, the pattern did wrap to the bottom of the foot a little. It's no big deal, folks. The socks are finished. I do love the stripes of this yarn though and they look so clean on the bottom of the foot. This yarn is also very soft - more soft than their Stroll yarn, which I have knit before as well.
So that's my copycat pair of socks :) Socks are one of those things that I enjoy making in theory but really aren't super practical for this Floridian life. I will definitely make more in the future thought. I'm up to 4 pairs now, I think. Not a shabby representation for a knitter. Now I have another cuddly soft pair of socks for the few months when it's chilly enough to want to wear them to bed! Yay, socks!
Summary:
Yarn: 1.6 skeins Knit Picks Felici yarn in Jamboree - $7.68, 19 grams Cascade Heritage in Italian Plum - $4.95
Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina - Free
Time: 2 years, 4 months
Total Cost: $ 12.63
*This post contains affiliate links, but all opinions are 100% my own and all items were purchased with my own money.
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