I forced this yarn to stripe/bend to my will and I’m terribly pleased with these socks. But, they no longer make me think of Muppets and Rainbow Connections. Now, they make me think of lessons learned, how happy I am that the person they’re going to LOVES them, and the one time in my life people compared me to a saint.


Pattern: Vanessa antiopa Socks by Hunter Hammersen

Size: Medium

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Solemate
When I hand washed/blocked these socks, they sank like rocks in water. I was surprised by this as my wool socks float. It seems that this yarn (55% superwash merino, 15% nylon, 30% viscose (rayon) fiber that interacts with your body’s microclimate to moderate temperature from being too hot or too cold) does not seem to have the water repelling properties of wool.
Colorway: Rainbow

Mods: The toes should have been all purled, but the giftee and I agreed that we prefer ribbed toes, so the toes match the cuff ribbing.

Needles: 2.5mm for the leg, 2.25mm for the foot


To see what other folks have finished, check out Tami’s Amis, Wisdom begins in Wonder, and Natural Suburbia.

Tags: hunter hammersen, Lorna's Laces, Rainbow, socks, solemate, Vanessa antiopa, yarn

So….after I turned the heel of the first rainbow sock, the pooling straightened itself out and the sock was a reasonable size and everything just magically fell into place. I cannot decide if the first sock was charmed, the second sock was cursed, or both.

I turned the heel of the second sock and…the sock was green on the back and red/purple on the front. I had a talk with myself because I knew Turtle would find the effect charming and be happy with the mismatched socks and declare them one of a kind. But…I might never sleep again. All those nights of laying there thinking about mis-matched socks running around the planet and me knowing that I’d knit them.

I ripped back to the start of the foot to try again. I pulled some yarn out to make a loop and affect the striping, but I didn’t cut it because I had a feeling. I figured I could cut it later and weave in the ends if the striping pleased me.
It didn’t. Ok, fine, I pulled another loop…would you believe that actually made it worse?!? How is that even possible?



I ripped back to the start of the foot. Maybe the problem was that I was using double pointed needles instead of magic looping like I did on the first sock. Tried magic looping. no dice.

I ripped back to the start of the foot. Maybe I knit too tightly. I tried loosely knitting. Oh, lovely, the striping looks great. Almost time for the toe decreases. Wait. This sock looks like it would fit the jolly green giant and Turtle’s feet are nearly the same size as mine. That’s not gonna work. The first sock is smaller and I normally knit socks on 2.25mm. Perhaps I should get my lovely 2.25mm Sig Arts needles and just try again.

I ripped back to the start of the foot. Everything is striping wonderfully. The birds are singing outside. Rainbows can be seen out the window…..and I remember that I switched to 2.25mm on sock 1 so the heel would be more tightly knit and last longer and I never went back up to 2.5’s. awesome.


On the upside, after all that ripping, the Solemate yarn still looks great, so I’m no longer worried about the heels wearing through. Which is a good thing because if you think I’m OCD enough to rip sock 2 out to go down to 2.25mm before the heel, you’d be wrong…and that, my friends, is what we call personal growth.

To see what others are working on, check out:
Tami’s Amis
Small Things (I’m listening to “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us” and I’m finding it terribly fascinating so far.)
Frontier Dreams

Do you remember that one class you took. You know, the one where you worked your arse off just to pass. Engineering statistics, anyone? Just me? okay well, the second muppet sock is kind of like that. I KNEW that pleasant striping was possible, I just had to start the cast on at the right place. I cast on no less than 15 times. I’m not kidding. There was a week in there where all I did was cast on for these socks and knit the first 8 rows to see how the striping would play over and over and over again.

In the end, I figured it out and I’ve never been so proud of 8 rows of ribbing in all my born days. If you’re going to knit socks with this yarn, for the love of all that is wooly, make a note somewhere of what color you began the cast on with for the first sock.

To see what others are working on, check out:
Tami’s Amis
Small Things (I’m still listening to “The Amen Solution” and as far as health/diet books go, I recommend it.)
Frontier Dreams