Sometimes it pays to look at things from a different angle

After trying every stitch pattern that I could find, frogging the whole thing and starting over several times, and almost moving on to different yarn, I finally picked up my copy of Socks, Socks, Socks in search of Stephanie's pooling solution. Alas, it really was a lacey pattern, and my Sockapalooza pal doesn't want lace. I thumbed through the pages, ready to find an obedient non-handpainted yarn, when I spied the Sideways Sox pattern. It was beautiful, full of color running down the sock instead of side to side. I had skipped by this same pattern many times, chuckling to myself about how hard knitting a sock from lengthwise would be.



Never say never, right? Turns out the chart is very clear and easy to follow, and the pattern is pretty simple to adjust if needed. Figuring out where to place the heel took a bit of figuring, since my sock pal's feet are a bit smaller than the pattern, but I think it will fit well. It's hard to see in the picture, but there are short rows that make a gentle curve on either side of the toe (the picture shows the top half of the sock). The stitch markers near the middle define where the heel increases and decreases will go. I love the edging - it's small, but does interesting things with the stretches of rose and greens at the end of each row. The colors, spread out over a larger row, are glorious, especially with the bits of seed stitch to mix things up:



May well have to make some of these up for myself ;-)