It’s been a while! I’ve actually finished THREE whole things in the past few weeks, but winter has ended in California, and it’s been too warm for me to even imagine putting on any knitwear. It was a little cooler today, so I managed to get a few finished object photos of a new pair of socks! I’m planning to participate in Kristin from the Yarngasm podcast‘s Box O Sox KAL this year, and this is my first pair of socks for the KAL.

The pattern I used is called Festoon, and it’s by Rachel Coopey. It was published in Issue 21 of Pom Pom Magazine. I used Stranded Dyeworks Cavern sock in the Ocean Rainbow colorway. I was so obsessed with this colorway from watching older episodes of the Stranded Podcast, so I was super excited to snag a skein! And I think it looks really cool in the Cavern base, which has silver stellina (you can kind of see the sparkle in the picture below).

These socks use a slip stitch heel flap – it was my first time doing a heel flap and gusset, and I think I like the look more than a short row heel. It was also my first time doing top down socks and Kitchener stitching the toe. I’m not sure I’m a huge fan the Kitchener stitch, but I did really like being able to try the socks on to figure out when to start the toe. Somehow that seems more clear than trying on toe up socks to decide when to turn the heel. I made the smaller size and used a US size 0 (2 mm) needle.

The only modification I made to these socks was that I did the ribbing at the top for 25 rows instead of for the suggested amount. I’m super into the way the twisted stitch cables stand out so clearly in this pattern. It was kind of annoying to cable for the whole sock, but I think it was worth it. These are definitely my favorite pair of socks that I’ve ever made. I’m very excited to find an opportunity to wear them.

The next pair of socks I’m making are toe up lace socks using Judy’s Magic Cast On. These socks also do a slip stitch heel, but they’re toe up, so I’m interested to see how that’s different from doing the heel flap and gusset top down.