This pair of socks that was supposed to be all simple and no-fuss, all jersey and plain won’t be after all 😆 I had all the best intentions in the world when I started them. Except that I don’t think I have enough yarn to make the whole pair (after all, it’s a leftover from a pair whose pattern is still to come, so if you want to know when my patterns are released and take advantage of exclusive discounts, I recommend that you go tosubscribe to my newsletter now 💌).

When I realized this hard truth, I rummaged through my stock of leftovers and went for a leftover Madelaine et Filibert “Bruxelles” color that I’d used to knit my Volutes Parfumées. I love this wool and color and was looking forward to working with it again.

I tried everything:

• the classic two-tone pair with contrasting heels and toe;
• Stripes in different widths: 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 5/5 ;
• the contrasting monoblock.

Nothing helped. These two colors are not made to get along. I think the undertones of the two browns must be too opposite in the color wheel, one tending towards green and the other towards red, creating a mismatch that’s not really pleasing to the eye.

There’s a little trick to knowing which colors are far enough apart to make patterns that stand out, and it’s very simple: just take a photo of the balls next to each other and use a filter to convert the photo to black and white. If the difference stands out, it will show on the knitting.

In the same vein, to test how well two colors match once they’ve passed this first test, you can twist one or two strands of each color together to see if they match or not.

Obviously I hadn’t done any of these tests 🙄

Back to square one, or almost, with the choice of a second, contrasting ball. Having learned (a little) from my mistakes, I set off this time on a slightly steady but not too steady pink. A remnant of Eline et Laine in Rose Trémière from my socks Swallows and Cathedrals. Here we tick all the boxes: both wools pass both tests with flying colours! This is confirmed in knitwear: they go very well with pink, which warms up the brown a little.

The question was how to combine them.

• I wasn’t too keen on the classic two-tone pair with contrasting thread heel and toe;
• I re-tested (in drawings) all the scratches tested previously;
• I even designed some unusual stripe alliances for a change.

Nothing totally convinced me. The key word for this pair is SIMPLICITY, and I wanted to stick to that. So I opted for the colored mono-block on half the foot. Efficient, no headaches, simple. I did make a mini-pattern for the color change with one row of alternating color at each stitch to introduce the new color gently, but the contract is respected.

Now for the big question: do I introduce a third color for the tip, or stay with pink? What do you think?

IN BRIEF
- Model: Grands Petons, adult version of mes Petits Petons
- Threads: Cash Sock by Gepard Garn, available at Lili Comme Tout + Eline and Laine Tabi in Rose Trémière.
- Techniques: tubular assembly, JSSCO elastic assembly, additional mesh in the heel