Embossed Leaves

Last week I finally finished a pair of Embossed Leaves socks, which I'm now realizing is just behind Jaywalkers and Monkeys in popularity. It's for good reason- these socks are fun to knit, look gorgeously complicated, but aren't really too difficult. I knitted them up over the course of a month or so, almost exclusively on the Metrorail, which means they got about 40 minutes of attention per weekday and lots of funny looks from my fellow travelers (actual quote: "what you doin' with all those sticks, girl?").



Pattern: Embossed Leaves, by Mona Schmidt (Interweave Knits Winter 2005)
Yarn: Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn in Peasant Blue (purchased for a super-steep discount from Sheep Shed Studio)
Needles: Knitpicks's new Harmony DPNs, Size 2
Modifications: None

So I found the cast on for this to be a little silly, and it turns out that Mona Schmidt actually intended for the pattern to have a "Two-strand tubular cast-on" (link goes to a tutorial Mona has on her blog). I didn't realize this until after I had finished the first sock, of course, so I had to just do the 2nd one with the silly cast on, too. Since then, I have discovered the elastic joy of the twisted German cast on and I haven't looked back.

These socks ended up being way bigger than I anticipated, so instead of going to my sister, with her size 7 foot, they are going to my grandmother-in-law, with her size 9 foot. I hope she likes them- I'm a little worried they may be a little fancy for her tastes, but I know she'll appreciate the effort.

Lessons learned:
1. Stop being so impatient and do your Ravelry research before you cast on
2. Shave your freaking legs before you take close up pictures of them