Monkey See; (Amphibious) Monkey Do

Cookie A’s glorious Monkeys look like they were designed for the yellow-green Koigu I bought in DC.



In my enthusiasm about finding such cool yarn, I hadn't really thought about what I might make with it other than it had to be socks. I tooled around online looking for that perfect pattern, and low and behold, I found it.

After fretting for days about whether to knit these socks as written or toe-up, researching every other knitter’s toe-up versions (thank you, all you bloggers and Ravellers!), swatching the lace version with purls and the version without, and stressing size/gauge, I finally cast on February 8.

I opted to go up a needle size. The pattern’s written for 2.5 mm, but it made me just a little too nervous about fit. Don’t feel like frogging these amphibious babies if I can help it! I mean, Cookie’s so tiny, and her calves have yet to experience the expansive joys of pregnancy!!

It’s a fairly simple pattern to convert to magic-loop since the lace pattern repeats exactly 2 times over the top of foot. Just a little re-jiggering. I may write down the details so the next person doesn’t have to figure it out.

Cast on using the Norwegian method and knit one round before starting the twisted rib.

True to reputation, they work up easily. The pattern’s intuitive and simple to memorize.



Oh… and I absolutely adore the yarn! This is the first time I’ve worked with Koigu, and I love it. If only it were superwash. Alas. Can’t have everything. Hard to get a good read on the colors, but the second image best reflects the brightness of the yellows. The subtleties of the color changes work so nicely with Cookie’s pattern. No unsightly color-pooling encountered yet, and no god-awful stripy stuff, either. Yay!

See this photo? I shot it bottom-up instead of top-down.


See how totally different it looks from the other direction? That’s why I opted not to do this pattern toe-up and just let the lace be upside down. I love the chunky squishily monkily goodness – so much mooshy fun to knit! I know I’ll be a little bummed to lose some of the bumpily fun once I block them.