Letting the yarn do the work

A couple of weeks ago my fellow Tuesday coffee knitter was working on some plain socks using one of the more complicated self-striping sock yarns. The socks looked great and she was really enjoying seeing what the yarn would throw at her next. I was intrigued so on my next trip to the LYS I picked up a ball of Trekking XXL that looked like it would produce interesting stripes.

The plan was to knit up a pair of plain socks, but I'll admit that until they were well underway I was still considering something more complicated. Since I intended these socks to be a gift for someone I haven't knit socks for before I was a bit worried about fit. I didn't feel like taking the time to knit a full pair of socks in a ribbing pattern but I was seriously considering knitting yet another pair of Monkey socks. I find that the Monkey socks behave a lot like ribbed socks and make for a more forgiving fit.

In the end I managed to convince myself that, since I had bought yarn that had a lot of visual interest on its own, any stitch pattern would be lost and might detract from the yarn itself. I stuck to knitting a plain 64 stitch sock, top down, with gusset heels:

I really enjoyed sitting back and letting the yarn do its thing. I cast on for these last Tuesday and they were finished Saturday, so they were also a very quick knit. Now I just need to put these somewhere safe until their intended recipient's birthday comes along in early May.

Now I just need to find something to work on during tomorrow's coffee and knitting get-together...