The Fun and Flirty Longbourn Socks
The Longbourn socks (Ravelry) I have to confess are my favorite of the three patterns I contributed to Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns. A few months prior to the call for submission proposals I had spent a long day huddled in my basement with DH watching the 5 hours of the BBC mini-series Pride and Prejudice. On this 100th viewing (at the very least I’m sure) of the show the lines of the wallpaper in the Bennet’s dining room at Longbourn really struck a chord with me. They kept popping up in my head over and over again and I kept trying to think of ways to use it in something.
Around that same time a lot of the design work I was doing was for various socks clubs. So far in designing for sock clubs I have never had the option of working colorwork socks, yet I knew colorwork with some embroidery was going to be the most faithful interpretation of the wallpaper in handknit fabric. So, I furiously knit a mini-sock to test out my theory.
The mini version used an analogous colorway (all colors are neighbors on the colorwheel) of Schaefer Anne handpainted yarn for the main design elements. Since those colors were all warm yellows and oranges I decided to use its complementary color for the background to maximize the contrast - a deep, rich navy semi-solid Shepherd Sock from Lorna’s Laces. It was love at first sight :-) Both Lorna’s and Anne are on the fine end of fingering weight sock yarns and I felt that lent an air of adult refinement to what might otherwise be considered a young girl’s pattern with all those lazy daisies.
Some of you may look at the socks and only see tons of embroidery in your future if you chose to knit these. Let me confess to you that I *loathe* embroidery. I will do it if it is the best means to an end, but I’ll grumble about it the whole time. I certainly do not purposefully seek out opportunities to embellish in such a way. Oddly, it wasn’t a horrible task (though I really drug my feet and knit these socks last). What worked for me was to stitch one round of lazy daisies every time I had a knit enough to fit them on (roughly at each half of a vertical repeat). This kept it from being a monumental finishing task when all the knitting was complete and gave me more room to maneuver the needle while stitching the lazy daisies. With the foot on there and complete it can become a bit of trick to do all that stitching. I highly recommend stitching the flowers as you go!
Another option for those loath to embroider? Minimized it - just embroider the top level below the picot cuff on each sock. Or, how about a vertical line of them on the outside of each leg or up the back of the leg? Then you could then knit either the instep version of the pattern for the rest of the leg or do the colorwork as originally laid out.
The range of looks for this sock are broad. Even the slightest changes in gauge can greatly influence the feel of the final socks. Heavier yarns will enhance the youthfulness of the sock and lighter yarns will make it look more refined. The color combinations you choose will also greatly impact the feel of the socks. Use two semi-solid yarns to tame the design slightly. Using less contrast (value and/or temperature) between the background and the flowers will have a similar effect, as will using a very dark background color such as the navy in my original mini version. Or find handpainted yarns in Regency era colors to match the pattern with its inspiration! The combinations are nearly endless. You could even use a different color for the lazy daisies than you use for the colorwork if you’ve got some partial skeins lying around in your stash.
I am anxious to knit myself a pair, but I can’t quite settle on colors :-) I’m pretty partial to the original swatch. Then again, I think a dusty sage green with a blue-lavender-periwinkle colorway or just a semi-solid mauve for the flowers would look great. Or, how about a natural cream background and shades of red and burgundy for the flowers? Perfect for Christmas and Valentine’s Day or just to brighten your day in the darker winter months. A nice daffodil yellow for the flowers would have you looking forward to spring each time you slipped them on your feet. Oh, the choices! What yarn and color combos would you knit these socks in?
See more of my design work on Ravelry or in my Fiber Arts Store. Don’t forget, Thursday is the last day to get Guided By Love! After that, the pattern is officially retired!
