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once upon a time
Designer's Corner, Notorious Sock Knitters | February 27, 2008
there was a yarn. it was sent to me by the lovely tina. it was meant to be used for a sock which was named “clueless #1″. but alas, the yarn did not want to be THAT sock. it striped! it fought with the pattern. “no, don’t make me”, it screamed!
so, stripey yarn, what do you want to be when you grow up? you need to be something special. the more i looked at the stripes, the more i thought that it would be fun to “play” with the stripes. maybe a simple lace to make the stripes go zig-zag. who wants plain stripes when you can have wild, fun stripes?! i found a simple lace and used the stripey yarn. YES! “serendipity” was born.
original “serendipity”
“serendipity” was originally knit with a heel flap and gusset (because i am that kind of gal) and a wedge toe. but the sock lost its cute stripyness over the gusset area. what to do?! ah, the voices in my head said, “short row heel”. yes, that will work. then i looked at the wedge toe. it was “ok” but kind of plain compared to all the fun striping on the foot. the little voices popped up again. ” how about a cute little star toe? ” why! it even looks like a little “bellybutton”! 
original wedge toe on left; cute little bellybutton toe on right
after that, i sent my little baby to tina who worked her color magic on some yarn. i didn’t know what colors tina was going to use or what the colorway would be called. i waited but didn’t hear from tina in like forever (ok, maybe it was 2 months, anyways it seemed like forever). “tina, the kit! tell me about the kit!” i saw the final product in the early weeks of january. be still, my heart! tina had used chinese new years for inspiration! “dragon dance” and ” serendipity”! it was meant to be.
i have enjoyed following your adventures through rockin’ sock club land. and i am thrilled to pieces when i see your pictures of “serendipity” and your lovely comments.
p.s. i know a lot of you were skeptical about combining lace and stripes. yes, the lace is hidden by the stripes but the purpose of “serendipity” was to play with the stripes; not the lace.
…and yes, i am of chinese heritage! gung hay fat choy! may the new year bring you good health, prosperity, happiness, and all kinds of fibery goodness!
9 Responses to “once upon a time”
Very nice to read your thoughts about Serendipity’s creation. Especially interesting to see the differerences between the short row heel and the heel flap. One thing I really like about the lace pattern is how it *does* work with the striping, you get a totally different effect. Very nice!
adrienne,
I love, love, love this pattern! I will definitely use it again on some other yarn. BTW, the Dragon Dance was perfect for it. I love me some red yarn! You all should check out some of adrienne’s other patterns. They are just as great!
Now this makes sense, I would have loved to have read this when I first got the kit.
Thanks for sharing.
Tomorrow is the day that I get to start my Serendipity socks. The other projects are nearly put to bed, so it is time to play with this! In the meantime, I have very much enjoyed reading your input in the Designer’s Corner, and to learn some of the behind the scenes notes about the sock’s creation. Thanks so much for contributing this–makes it all the more special.
I’m enjoying this pattern. I had to put the pattern down, though, and be one with the sock. I know, I know, this is “woo-woo”. But as long as I looked at the pattern itself I would mess it up. So, finally, I’m almost to the toe of the second sock. I did the heel and toes in a favored wool and silk for strength. I’m still not so savvy with the posting of the pictures thing, but I will take time this weekend to post on Ravelry. Thanks, again, for your creativity! It’s almost March, right, time for another sock, right, yeah yeah, oh boy.
My favorite parts of the sock are the star toe and the awesome striping result with the short row heel–almost like a target but in keeping with the striping. The result of combining the lace and the dragon dance yarn really did “magically” play with the stripes bending them like scales of a dragon would bend when it moved. (I know–my experiences with dragons are somewhat limited but the dragons for the Chinese New Years do seem to bend and shift as they move). I am so happy with these socks and loved hearing about how you made your design decisions! Thanks for the insight.
Thanks for posting this! This pairs up nicely with Tina’s Dyers Notes. I’ve said it before but I don’t mind repeating — I liked this pattern very much and can see it done in other colors too. I really liked how fast it knit up. And, I’m wearing them right now!
This is one of my favorite patterns. Concentrating on the lace pattern makes it go so fast down the leg. I look up from the chart and see that I am almost done.
This sock looks so happy. I really like the way the lace interacts with the stripes.
I’m really glad you used a short row heel - not only was it a good challenge, since I haven’t done it before, but it also really works nicely in not changing the striping on Blue Moon socks. I’m also looking forward to trying toe up socks sometime soon, so I know the short row heel will come in handy.
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