I love variegated yarn, but it is often difficult to find patterns that really highlight the beauty of these complex combinations. When I developed this particular combination of slipped and lifted stitches it was for a hat worked in solid colors. But as I was knitting it I was thinking “I bet this would work awesome in variegated yarn”. After the hat was completed I asked Lindsay at The Fiber Seed if she had some crazy variegated yarn that I could swatch with and she generously humored me. The swatch came out even better than I had imagined.
The slipped stitches pull the color across the face of the fabric and each stitch pops out in a different burst of color. When striped with a complementary color it truly sings. And the yarn was so perfectly suited for socks that I just had to design a pair. Which honestly, I hadn’t before. I mean I had knit socks but just had never had the urge to design a pair. Until now. Starting toe up you work the in the contrast color and then bring in your variegated yarn. Striping proceeds with the pattern on top and a stockinette sole until you place waste yarn for an afterthought heel.
Then the pattern extends around the leg to mosey on up to contrast ribbing. You pick up around your waste yarn and knit your heel in the contrast color to balance everything out. Then, like all socks, you do it all again, LOL! I am guessing that many of the fans of Indie Untangled might have a few brightly colored skeins of sock yarn tucked away that would be perfect for this pattern. I can’t wait to see them!