Wednesday, July 1, 2015

FO: Delias eucharis Socks

Pattern: Delias eucharis Socks by Hunter Hammersen

Needles: 2.25 mm

Modifications: none

Comments: First let me apologize for the photo: it's oversaturated, but despite posing on an  overcast day in a shady corner of the deck it's the best photo I got. Never mind though, it's good enough to see the pattern I think!

And what a pattern! The pattern is named for an Indonesian butterfly. From Wikipedia:

The Common Jezebel (Delias eucharis) is a medium sized pierid butterfly found in many areas of South and Southeast Asia, especially in the non-arid regions of IndiaSri LankaIndonesiaMyanmar[1] and Thailand. The Common Jezebel is one of the most common of the approximately 225 described species in the genus Delias.

What a beautiful butterfly! But here's the sentence in the Wikipedia entry that really caught my eye: It has bright coloration to indicate the fact that it is unpalatable due to toxins accumulated by the larvae from the host plants. I wonder if brightly coloured socks will have the same protective effect?

The pattern looks complicated but it's much easier than it looks. Every fourth round there are some fiddly crossings that have you playing twister with a handful of needles, but otherwise the pattern was very straight forward. In the pattern photo there looked to be eight repeats on the leg, I knit nine repeats and wish I had knit a couple more - I had enough yarn leftover.

There's no ribbed cuff on this sock; you cast on and dive straight into the chart. The pattern is stretchy enough that this works. The eyelet column continues down the heel. I like the look of that but I'm not sure how practical that is. Similarly the twisted rib continues through the toe section - pretty but a little uncomfortable in shoes. Maybe these are special occasion socks rather than everyday socks? I've knit these as a gift for my sister - who often tells me that she thinks my socks are "too nice" to wear casually - so it shouldn't be a problem.

I knit the pattern as written, including working the toe decreases as written, which has led me to the conclusion that I have much longer, pointier toes than designer Hunter Hammersen. After working a handful of toe decreases every other round she instructs to work decreases every round. That really shortens and rounds off the toe box. It doesn't work very well for my feet but might work for my sister whose toes are much more compact.

The yarn is from Manos del Uruguay; it's a sock yarn called "Alegria" in a fiery red colourway. It's gorgeously soft and squishy, and lovely to knit, but I fear it may not very sturdy or hardwearing. Hopefully my fears are unfounded - it gets great reviews online - but regardless it's perfect for special occasion socks!

7 comments:

Maria said...

Commenting here rather than replying to your comment on my blog, as I'm not sure you'd see the reply :)

You're a huge reason I've turned into such a sock knitter! I used to see all the gorgeous socks on your blog (still hope to get my hands on a copy of "Knit, Sock, Love" someday!) and knew I had to learn how to do that myself!

Fortunately I turned out to really love knitting socks, and the rest - as they say - is history :) So thank you for that! I'll still be knitting heaps of socks (and hope to knit my way through "Sock Innovation" and/or "Socktopus" one of these years) even if I've decided to give YoP a miss. Hope you'll still come around to visit my blog from time to time - I've added yours to my feed :)

Kiwiria

Wanderingcatstudio said...

Love that sock! It's gone right into my queue!
Hope you're having a fabulous Canada day!

Gracey is not my name.... said...

I agree with Maria.....love seeing which socks you are making now..and you have been an inspiration...

Stefanie said...

OoO Oh my! These are beautiful! The fiery red is striking to the eyes. That butterfly is so cool.

Anonymous said...

I love Alegria! I'm also hoping it wears well. It's a wonderful yarn to knit up.

Your socks are BEAUTIFUL!

WildflowerWool said...

Happy Canada Day! Perfect socks to show off today. Looks like a really fun pattern to knit!

Caffeine Girl said...

That is a gorgeous pair of socks. The pattern looks so intricate. I love the link about the butterfly and I hope these socks ward off all things evil!