Sometime over the winter, an advertisement in one of the knitting magazines caught my eye. There were two of the prettiest socks I’d ever seen, both with a nature aspect to them. I immediately looked up the Web address given and found the site for knit designer Janel Laidman. Her two books, The Enchanted Sole and The Eclectic Sole, contain tons of fabulous socks inspired by nature, legends, fairy tales, and other colorful realms of idea. I ordered both.
The Eclectic Sole: Socks for Adventurous Knitters contains the pattern for the Rivendell Socks. Not only because I’m a big Lord of the Rings fan, but also because this is a very elegant looking design, I immediately had a similar reaction as I did with the Russula Cap. I had to have a pair.
Shortly after receiving the books, I began spinning up some green hand-painted merino roving I’d bought at the Woolbearers booth at the Garden State Sheep Show in October. It has varying shades of green, yellows, pinks, and light brown in it. It reminded me of the dappled sunlight filtering through new pale green spring leaves in the woods. Definitely material for the Rivendall Socks!
This was a big step for me, as I had always managed to avoid knitting from charts up until now. Just couldn’t manage to figure them out. However, Laidman’s charts are large (good for people with less-than-great eyesight) and clearly explained. I just wish the legend of which stitch is which was on the chart page so I didn’t have to keep looking to the back of the book. However, this is a small inconvenience to trade for such lovely patterns:
This is at the end of the first chart and has progressed a bit further in the past week. I will post another photo when I get to the end of the second chart.
The Wool Merchant's Daughter 
You must be logged in to post a comment.