I’m trying to be better about posting projects right after they are finished.  Christmas makes that impossible, and birthdays are not much better.  My mom’s birthday was on Valentine’s, and she has already opened her present, so I can now post it here:

It is the Skew pattern from knitty.com.  The pattern incorporates a very interesting diagonal construction.  The whole thing is worked from the big toe, over and then up.  The heel is also different, with the increases going out to the side, and then being folded towards each other and grafted together.  It is hard to explain, but I recommend knitting it if you get a chance.  

I actually ended up knitting the pattern twice.  For most of my knitting life I have existed with size 1 ½ needles instead of regular 1s.  It was the kind of purchasing fluke that happens when a novice buys needles, but I was a well informed novice, so I bought Addi Turbo’s, expensive needles, in slightly the wrong size.  The first pair of skew socks were made using the slightly larger needles, and it actually made a big difference in the size of the socks.  These slightly too big fellows have now gone on to a friend with slightly larger feet.  

Also, since they were for my mom, I decided that the more muted colors simply weren’t as appropriate as some festive red.  

I will say though, that working this pattern has restored my faith in variegated yarn a little and I'm thinking more positively about hand dyed yarn.  I'll be at Stitches West this weekend, so it may be that I come home with an arm full of hand dyed and make nothing but socks for a while.