I’m usually pretty utilitarian when it comes to sock cuffs. I save all of my fancy details for the body of the sock, whether it’s a cool texture or some color work. But a while back I designed some fancy lace socks and I decided that they needed some over the top fancy cuffs as well. The socks are my Steel Magnolia socks and they are some extreme lace socks indeed. These socks first appeared in Nomadic Knits, issue 6, but is now available in my Ravelry store.
These socks feature multiple floral motifs that feature both blossoms AND leaves AND stems. There are 2 heel treatments as you can see above. Who does that? Yours truly, that’s who! Furthermore, the main floral motif is mirrored on the front of the socks, a feat accomplished by casting on provisionally at the ankle and then knitting up to the cuff and down to the toe. Yikes!
Well…now that’s a fancy sock, as I’m sure you’ll agree. I wanted the cuff to be fancy also, so I worked some YO holes in at the top of each k2 panel. The cuff made them just disappear but I had plans for those babies! All of my lace socks get blocked vigorously and these were no exception. I was resolved to make those YOs work! So after a nice soak in lukewarm water, I placed my socks onto my trusty blockers.
I cut a length of some bulky waste yarn and threaded into my YOs, as you see, leaving some big loops.
All the way around, I threaded the bulky yarn through each YO. Then I cut another length and caught all of the loops.
I tied them off, making sure that each YO was nicely extended. It really didn’t take too long.
And–Voila!–here are the unabashedly fancy cuffs when blocking was done! A perfect ending to these very feminine socks.
Lizzie Knitzz 