Seduced by a Mystery (Sock), again

So I was just hypnotized by the November mystery sock, over at Sock Knitters Anonymous. I hungrily knitted each clue as it was posted. I read the threads where people carped at the designer, amazed at what can be misunderstood in directions.

And the resulting socks really turned out lovely. It's a graceful design, and the elements work well together. I especially liked the alternative heel stitch.

January's, it seemed clear that I should skip. I'm just not into intarsia or figurative patterns.

But March? There's one clue up, and it's a doozy. A provisional cast-on, two vague inches of stockinette, and then some entrelac. The designer's replies to questions have suggested that the entrelac will pretty much stop here. The carpers found a significant error, now repaired, on the first day, but:

But. I can't see anywhere this is going, with the provisional cast-on and all, but to have a wide hem at the top with the entrelac on the outside. Shouldn't there be a purl ridge for the turn? Am I going to be reknitting all that green to put one in? (And why the garter rectangles? The color is enough -- and Koigu is even the recommended yarn for this pattern -- that the texture isn't necessary.)

Also: my gauge is WAY off. I magic loop tight, but I DPN loose, and this is already an inch and a half too wide. As long as what's knitted so far is the top of the cuff, that's fine. My calf muscles will appreciate the shaping, and since I have 3 skeins of Koigu, I should be able to make the leg long enough to get, hmm, eventual fit.

I'm sort of hoping that the rest of the sock will be pretty plain, so that I can just Stashbuster Spiral the body in the 3 colorways of Koigu that I'm using. (The color situation is just my personal nightmare. Don't let it bother you. Too much Koigu, all in singleton skeins.) But it seems likely enough that I'll want that purl ridge that I don't even want to start the second cuff.

Still, it's spawned one idea: can't you see a silly girly hat? Maybe in some of the Ella Rae Palermo I have sitting around... a quick scan of Ravelry didn't turn up anything using garter entrelac points to get a crown-like brim. HMMMMMMM.

Plus it's just fun to be speculating like this. What is the designer thinking?

Comments

[Cheryl]

Wow, those golden colored sock are really beautiful! I can see why you're skeptical about the entrelac ones, but it sure will be interesting to see where they go from there.

[cici]

I am anxious to see what comes next...it's pretty so far..

[Jody]

Yeah, I agree with you on the entrelac -- both that the garter stitches don't do the pattern any good, and that it might make a fantastic child's hat.

[Emma Jane]

Oh my god---I got this sock to the point of picking up the gusset stitches, and let it sit for a couple months, and said "I DON'T WANT TO WEAR A SOCK WITH A FUCKING ENTRELAC HEEL FLAP," and went and looked at everyone else's on Ravelry and it's just a weird and awful pattern, so I frogged the hell out of it. Now I have a bag of little Koigu shreds all balled up.

Then when a new Mona Schmidt pattern came out in Twist Collective, I bought it and knitted as if it were a mystery pattern -- two cuffs, two legs, two heel flaps, etc., -- and felt much better. I need to post those to Ravelry, though. (They ate up the high-estrogen energy of the preamble and stim parts of the cycle...PIO makes me stop knitting.)