Squirrelly goodness (in sock form)

Some time ago I bought two skeins of extremely wonderful handspun yarn from the talented Azzy. The first skein became deliciously cozy handwarmers for myself and Elfling; the second has just now achieved its destiny as finer, but equally cozy, socks for my very dear friend Cara.

The yarn was called Red Squirrel, and you can see why. I knew immediately it would be perfect for Cara. And with her, plus squirrels, in mind, I started thinking about a particular corner of Cape Town… the bit around the university’s arts and drama campus at the top of Government Avenue, nestled among old oak trees and full of character. (And squirrels!) Cara and I spent a lot of time there over the years, even before she herself joined the arts school. I wanted to capture the feel of that place, and futzed around a fair bit with stitch patterns – originally the design involved architectural “pillars” and “twining ivy”! All of which was fun, but the yarn really just wanted to relax a bit in the brick stitch I had in between pillars… so I let it.

Brick stitch, featuring lots of slipped stitches as it does (great for showing off variegated yarns), is very compressed vertically. This allowed me to use eye of partridge for the entire sole, which is perfect because it will be durable as well as warm. In a thicker yarn, that might make for chunky socks, but this is very fine (about a 3ply weight) and should still sit comfortably in shoes.

It’s now available as a free download from my Ravelry store.