| Pattern | Paris Socks by Mina Philipp |
| Dates | 1st-21st April 2021 |
| Materials | Rosie’s Moments Merino Nylon Yak Forest – 45g Fine Fish Yarns Merino Nylon Sock Gold – 12g 2.25mm needles |
| Size | 62 sts |
| Rating | Pattern: 4/5 Finished item: 3/5 |
The second pattern from the Around the World in 8 Socks club from Knitting Expat – this time Paris!
I spent the couple of weeks since finishing the London socks pondering my sock yarn stash and trying to decide what colour I might want to use. I was leaning towards a sparkly soft pink, representing the ‘City of Lights’ idea. But when I saw the pattern, I decided the twisted rib columns and flower-inspired motif reminded me of the art nouveau metro station entrances and by extension, my favourite area of Paris, the Latin quarter, with its famous Shakespeare & Co. bookshop.
Returning to my stash, I pulled out the perfect green colour and one of my oldest stash skeins, a merino-nylon yak sock from Rosie’s Moments, and paired it with a bright gold yellow mini skein from Fine Fish.
I also knit this pair toe-up with the same heel construction as the London socks, although I took the GSR heel down to 11 stitches before turning and this does fit me much better. But I decided to return to magic loop and knit these two at a time.
Although I still knit these pretty quickly I’m not sure that two at a time made it any faster – certainly the Rosie’s Moments is quite a high twist yarn and it got super tangled pulling from both ends, to the point that just a few rows from the cuff I ended up having to break it and untangle to be able to continue.
These weren’t the most enjoyable to knit but I’m not sure how much that was the pattern just didn’t grab me and how much it was the faff of the knitting method I chose. I was happy with my yarn pairing / concept though. Having washed the finished socks in the machine like I do all my socks, I realised I perhaps should have paid more attention to the yak content, as they seem to have produced a load of short brown hairs – almost felted, but they still stretch.
