Xanthophyll (plus giveaway)

Remember how I’m not supposed to have favorites?  Because I’m supposed to love all my patterns equally? Well that works about as well with patterns as with ice cream.  They’re all good, but some of them are especially good.  And Xanthophyll are totally some of my favorites!  I’m so glad to be bringing them back out.

These were the first skinny yarn socks I knit for The Boy (before he happened to mention that he sort of liked thick socks best, thus increasing the overall number of knit socks in his future rather dramatically).  The original ones still turn up in the laundry pile on a regular basis though, and have held up rather nicely if I do say so myself!

But for this iteration, I wanted to get show off another variation.  For their second debut they’ve been reknit in some delicious Carnal by Vice.  If you’ve been hanging out here for a while you know I’m a tremendous fan of all the beautiful colors Lizzy magics into existence, and this is no exception.  I couldn’t ask for a more fitting shade for these socks…just enough variegation to keep it interesting, not so much that it obscures the fancy stitches.

And there are fancy stitches!  The basic stitch pattern is more or less a rib, but you’ve got a slipped stitch column and another with a lovely elongated stitch cable.  The combination means pooling isn’t likely to be a problem, even with tricky yarns.  And it’s orderly enough that you’ll have the rhythm of it memorized in no time.  The socks come in four sizes (a serious improvement over the one size in the original pattern!), and are totally suitable for guys or girls.

You all know I take my duty to spread the yarn love seriously, so I’ve got a skein of Carnal to send off to one of you.  It’s not exactly this color (the one shown here was a one of a kind and was just too perfect not to use for these socks).  But it is a lovely, buttery yellow that’s completely appropriate for the pattern (xanthophyll is the yellow pigment in leaves, so I feel obligated to give away a yellow yarn).  If you’d like to be entered to win, just leave a comment telling me what color of leaves you prefer.  Are you in it for the first hits of green in the spring?  Or do you like full summer’s darker shades better?  Is it the fall fireworks that do you in?

And while I can’t send yarn to everyone, I can give everyone a discount.  Just use the code YELLOW to get a dollar the price between now and Friday.  Just put Xanthophyll in your ravelry cart, click on the ‘use a coupon code’ button, and type in the code YELLOW.  You’ll see the change in price reflected right away.

Comments left between now and the end of the day (eastern time) Friday, July 10, 2015 will be entered to win.  I’ll pick a winner, contact them to get their addresses, and arrange to send yarn their way.  Be sure to use a real email address so I can contact you if you’ve won (I won’t do anything with those email addresses besides notify the winner).  If I do email you, I need to hear back from you within 72 hours or I will pick a new winner and contact them.  Sorry, but I can only ship physical prizes to US addresses.