As research for her Yarn 101 article in this issue, Gretchen Hines-Ward took a trip last November to the Meridian Mill. She asked if I could come up with a pattern for one of their yarns, and I happily agreed. I always love trying new yarns. Since the yarn was undyed, I decided a pair of cabled socks would be the best way to try out the yarn, a lovely 100% wool.

Incorporating cables into any project requires planning. I knew the stitch gauge would be much tighter than for stockinette, so the socks would require more stitches than most sock patterns I have written. In the first pass for the socks, the toes were stockinette but the difference in the stitch gauges made them puffy. I ripped out my work and ribbed the toes to match the first row of the cables. I did the same for the heels.

One of my pet peeves with cables is when the band doesn’t line up with the cables. The main cable pattern does not have any sections where there are K2P2 multiples to line up with the ribbing, but there is a section of four reverse stockinette stitches. I increased two stitches at that location, adding a total of six stitches at the band where an extra bit of stretch is a good thing.