Them's 'bossed leaves

Take that Ms. Crawford!

All done! And hanging on my cheapass Mommie Dearest sock blockers ("No...wire...hangers!" she said with those crazy eyes).

These are my second pair of Embossed Leaves Socks, a birthday gift for my best friend M. And I gotta say, I just love this pattern. It's my favorite sock pat to date. So freaking fun to knit.

Second verse, same as the first
I made pretty much the same mods as last time - ditched the tubular cast-on for long tail and joined the cuff straight off, did my standard EoP heel flap, and skipped that whole yarn cutting thing and simply knitted an extra row of the heel to pick up the gussets normally.

BUT, if you look closely, you may notice one difference:

Make me work for it, why dontcha.

Did you spot it? I actually knitted the cuff in twisted rib! It's quite purty, I must say. Normally, those ktbls are more work than I care to invest in a sock cuff, but since these are a gift, I put in the extra effort. It looks very nice, and still has the lovely stretch of rib. I may have to recant my former stance and say it's quite worth the time. (And with these pointy Knitpicks circs, a helluva lot easier to knit.)

Heeee, squishy.

Yaaarn
This is Shibuiknits Sock yarn in Peony and it is WONderful. Slightly thinner than Socks That Rock lightweight but just as sproingy. The color is beautifully rich, and oh, it feels so soft and silkie while you're knitting with it. (Ooo, *fans self*. Pardon me a moment. Tawk amongst yaselves.)

I only put these on for a second as they're a gift, but they felt quite fab for those few moments! (Luckily, I have a couple of skeins in the stash to make a pair for me later. ;)) It bled a tiny amount in the wash, but only left behind a faint tint in the water with no fading once dry. Very little halo, too, so hopefully they'll wear well!

Enabler alert! There are a few places you can get this stuff, but I recommend Webs. There's less of that shark-chum effect. Plus, you can take advantage of their discount and get a pair for less than 15 bucks. Not bad for a super squishtastic sock yarn!

The only thing I was slightly unhappy with was the somewhat uniform stripey effect. I thought as a semi-solid colorway, it would do more of a random heathery thing. The wide stripes were rather unexpected. I was on the fence about continuing, but since they were Hubster-approved, figured I'd forge on instead of frogging. I'll be knitting my dad a pair of socks in their semi-solid blue for Christmas, so we'll have to see how the yarn knits up then.

Even though the stripes here are only a shade or two off, I do think this pattern shows best in a completely solid colorway. When I circle back around to a third pair, I'll go with a solid through and through.

Wrap it up
Last time she visited, my best friend M kept saying how cute my Embossed Leaves were - now she'll have a pair of her own! I'm so excited to give these to her for her birthday next month, hopefully they'll fit (I've got some anxiety over this)!

Stripes aside, I do like how they came out. Back in January, I thought there was no way anyone could memorize this pattern. But now, I can! Huh, guess that means I've grown some as a knitter. Go figure.

M's 'Bossed Leaves
Pattern: Embossed Leaves Socks, IK Winter 2005 or Favorite Socks
Yarn: Shibuiknits Sock in Peony (2 skeins)
Needles: Knitpicks circs, size 1
Mods: Long tail cast on, twisted rib straight off, EoP heel flap, and gusset pick-ups as usual (no yarn cutting)