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 India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar^[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!