A New Portable Project

I'm taking a break from the hexipuffs for a bit, and I was wanting to knit another pair of socks.  Periodically, I knit a pair of socks for Mickael, and he has proven to be very sock worthy.  He wears his handknit socks around the house and sleeps in them, and once a pair of dark gray, solid socks got to go to work on a casual day (I'm sure all the other socks were jealous that day).  I always keep Mickael's socks in the colors he likes (gray, navy, forest, black) and I like to keep a few skeins of Mickael Sock Yarn in the sock yarn stash to knit up for him.  A while back I bought two skeins of Ultra Alpaca Fine in solid black.  I knew the black would be boring (and any patterning on Mickael Socks must be subtle), but I knew he would love a pair of black socks and they would definitely get worn, so I decided it would be worth it for him.

I've been looking for a stitch pattern on and off for a while, because while I know they're black (and stitch patterns won't show much), I also know that if I were to knit the socks in stockinette I would either die of boredom or quit the socks out of self defense and deny their very existence.  Finally, I stumbled across a sock pattern that I knew was subtle enough for Mickael, would work in black, and would keep me interested, without making me crazy (the yarn is black after all).  That's a tall order for any stitch pattern!  I'm knitting him the Go With the Flow socks, sized to his manly feet, and I'm loving the way the pattern works up to look like a herringbone!  The stitch pattern is all knits and purls, but there's just enough there to amuse me.  I think he'll like the texture when they're all done, but it's still very manly - right?  The yarn is very soft and I think it will make a nice pair of socks to keep his feet warm, while he's saving humanity from zombies, or whatever game he's playing.

And just in case you were wondering, Caleb is on a hand knitted sock suspension because of the speed he's growing, and he's doing a weird thing with his socks where he pulls the sock toe away from his toes and twirls it around and around, stretching out the end of the sock.  Also he told me that handknit socks were itchy.  Right after that he realized what he'd done and said that they were also very soft and made from love and magical fluff.  Sure kid, whatever.  No socks for you!  Besides, he just got a big blanket anyway.