Our new colors of Imagination are now available!  We have four new shades: Galactic, Treasure, Magic Wand, and Atlantis.  Atlantis is definitely my favorite with its rich blue-greens and the bright shot of red as an accent.  When the samples arrived at our office, I grabbed two skeins and got to work on a Mother’s Day present for my mom, Marilyn.  I can finally show you pictures without ruining the surprise!

I don’t knit socks very often, but Imagination is so plush that I fell into a sort of Sock Madness and couldn’t stop.  I used Wendy’s Generic Toe-Up Sock recipe as a guideline, adjusting for my mom’s size 7.5 feet.  I’m a pretty boring sock knitter, and I usually choose to just use stockinette on the foot and then 2×2 ribbing on the cuff.  I used a sewn bind-off for the top of the ankle to keep it as stretchy as possible.

Hand painted yarns like Imagination can be tricky to use – if you pair some of them with some complicated stitch patterns, the shifting colors may obscure all of your hard work.  I love pairing high-contrast variegated yarns with simple stitch patterns (stockinette, linen stitch, or slip stitch patterns) in order to let the colors really show off.  Lower-contrast variegated yarns like Treasure or Castle Walls are less distracting when paired with elaborate stitch patterns and can work well for lace or cable socks.