Broadripple Stripeages

It's no secret that I'm awfully fond of striping yarn, and my knitting buddies all know I'm terribly fussy about my multicolour yarns. I love stripes, but totally dislike spotty bits and jacquard, which eliminates a large percentage of the striped yarns commercially available. For example, I wanted to love the Harry Potter yarn, but it just represented everything I dislike in striping yarns.

When I knit with striped yarns, I'm always torn between just doing plain knitting, and enjoying the stripes, or doing a fancy stitch that highlights and harmonizes with the stripes. Sometimes I do chevrons. Sometimes I just let the stripes shine.

I've been wanting to explore my sKnitches Carnival yarn that's been lurking in my stash. And I recently saw a pattern for a broadripple sock that really plays well for stripes. Time to bring the two together!



I started this pair last night. I was immediately concerned that the garter ridge band wouldn't look nice with the changing colours. I pondered my alternatives. I could knit the cuff in a contrasting colour, but this would require more yarn. I couldn't think of any stash sock yarn that would contrast well, and I wasn't thrilled about the idea of buying another ball of yarn, just for contrast. So I knitted on. Then this morning, when I was finishing the cuff, I decided I totally didn't like the way the colour changes looked in garter stitch. I also remembered I had some Knit Picks' essentials in some similar colours. So I ripped out the cuffs and started over.



Broadripple socks, version two, are coming along nicely. They're a handsome pair of socks, I do declare! I even swatched before beginning and got gauge. Unfortunately, the socks are too tight. I've decided to proceed, and make them for my daughter. They fit her just perfectly, and they'll be very cute on her.