The fourth sock in the UK Sock Knitters 2019 Challenge.

There are 18 groups in the periodic table and this year I will be knitting a sock to represent an element from each of them. Click the link above to follow my progress on the whole project in one notebook post !

The March Sock Represents Nickel (Ni) - more specifically Nickeline - a mineral compound of Nickel and Arsenic. When discovered in the 1800’s the lustre of the ore looked like copper - but no matter how hard anyone tried they could not extract the valuable metal, and what is more persons attempting to do so very often fell sick.

Nickel comes from the German word for “Goblin” - with the element being named for “Nicklaus” the tricky spirit believed to be responsible for taking the valuable copper and replacing it with a relatively useless ore.

The inspiration picture (bottom) was the guide for Mad Scientist Yarns to create the gorgeously tricky grey green colourway.

As Nickeline has a Hexaganol Crystaline structure, the stitch pattern takes inspiration from this.