Every year in January/ February Kirsten Kapur @throughtheloops host a Mystery sock Knit-along, and I am always looking forward to it. Her patterns are always interesting to knit and the instructions clear and easy to follow. Additionally it is the easy way for me to fill my sockdrawer. I find socks so long to knit, and a KAL makes me knit a pair in fairly 6-7 weeks because I try to be ajour with the weekly clue.
So when she announced the KAL last year (2017) I immediately jumped around to buy the pattern and search in my stash for yarn. This time the pattern called for two solid or semisolid colours, perfect for using up some leftovers. Except…
I might already have said I am living 15 mins walk from @labienaimee, and I often stop by to say hi on my way home from work. It is always very nice to be welcomed and have a chat, and I always check the shelves of yarn. Temptations… I was of course to weak to resist my preferred colours Namu and Yellow Brick Road. YBR is the colour I used to make my Ishnana cardigan, and Namu is a beautiful off-white with speckles of green, turquoise, brown, yellow, orange and more.

La Bien Aimeé Tough socks, bfl and nylon, is the perfect sockyarn. Colours Namu and Yellow Brick Road. Photo by @labienaimee.
The mystery socks KAL is divided into 5 clues. First clue introduced mosaic knitting – a two coloured technique using slipped stitches to form a motif. Next clue was cables along the ankle. I shortened mine as I don’t like my socks long. This do change the aspect of the sock making them a bit less organic (there’s two repeats instead of three) but I still think it look great, so…The heel flap is knit in the contrast colour and is really pretty. It’s a peacock stitch that gives a slight relief. It consists of alternate slipped stitches. The rest of the heel is formed by short-rows and it give a great fit for my foot. The instep and foot are again knit with the same cable pattern as on the ankle. The toe is knit with the contrast colour.
And this is how my socks look like. I love them and they have got a lot of use. Not only in my fancy dancing shoes 😉

Show off your socks – TTL mystery socks 2017. Click on the picture for a link to my Ravelry page and the details.
The Knit A Long for 2018 starts on February 1st, and of course I will knit a pair. The pattern is already in my Ravelry library, I have stash dived ( this year I am good!) and I am counting down. I am still pondering wether I want grey, red or blue socks this time. I might go for grey because I always choose colours and I do not have enough neutral knits in my closet.
As a sidenote, you might have noticed that I have done some changes in the layout of the blog, but it is still under construction and will probably take some time, as I prefer to knit rather than to tweak layout ideas and technical walkarounds, so please bear over with the childrens diseases.
In the meantime I will try to blog on a more regular basis. More regular than once a year is my goal.
Happy knitting!