sign of four (a sock for sherlock)

back at the end of 2010, i was asked to design a sock to be featured in the first shipment of the woolgirl victorian writers club, which focused on sherlock holmes, the famous literary detective created by  sir arthur conan doyle.

i was a little nervous about the mid-january deadline, as i was due to leave for a month of travel just before that time. but as it happened, i had just cast on for a sock that i thought would be very sherlock—one that i hadn’t had a chance to blog yet. it was tweedy and subtle; just the thing for sneaking up on someone to spy. i ran it by jen and she agreed it was a winner—we would run with this one.

i was paired with my friend and long-time collaborator, roxanne yeun, whose dye magic can be seen gracing the pages of her zen yarn garden webstore (hey, she has a sexy new look now). we’ve always worked very well together, so we were happy to be a team and set to work right away, dreaming up the perfect sherlock colorway.

what could be more fitting than brown tweed in a warm, comfy fiber blend?

roxanne had a great brown color cooked up before you could say “elementary, my dear watson!” and then the ball was in my park to get a pair knit up by the deadline.

it really is a very simple sock to knit, good for a first time project or if you want something mindless to whittle away on at ballgames and picnics this summer.

and yet, it has a lovely secret pattern embedded in the fabric as well—once you get some fabric knit, you begin to see shadowlines of the larger overall diamond motif.

and in a whole sock, it’s actually pretty noticeable from afar. with seven sizes included in the pattern, this could become a family staple (or at least a regular favorite with the guys you knit for).

handsome, right?
(david says yes.)

i think he’s just happy to finally have another new pair of socks.

shown above in zen yarn garden serenity 20, a delis merino/cashmere/nylon blend in the exclusive club colorway, hound of the baskervilles (check out the truffle colorway for a close substitute).

to purchase pattern or view complete pattern information, please click here to visit the knitspot pattern shop. or purchase pattern in our ravelry shop.

many thanks to jen at woolgirl and roxanne at zen yarn garden for their collaboration in this project.

and great thanks to our dear friends agnes and phoebe for test knitting the pattern to get it in perfect shape for shipping.

and of course, thank you dear david for lending us his own hardworking dogs for a little modeling in between club shipments.