Jeannie Cartmel is one of my favorite sock designers. I think of her work as “Cookie A lite.” Jeannie’s designs are often asymmetrical and always bold, but they usually don’t take quite as much brain power as navigating a Cookie A pattern. In other words, they’re just my speed.
Sock #1 – Aphrodite
The sock on the right is the first one I knit, a couple years ago when I was in thrall to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and its Millenium series sequels. All on tape, of course. This sock is 
Aphrodite, and I knit it in Urban Night Sock. It’s intricate little one-over-one cables keep things interesting and make a stretchy, foot-hugging rib. The pattern is charted, but once you get the hang of the basic motif repeat you can knit your socks without them becoming a total magnet and highlighter management project.
Jeannie’s even thought through the perils of second sock syndrome – the unendurable boredom of producing the same sock twice to create a pair – the scourge that leaves so many sock knitter’s families going barefoot or wearing miss-matched socks. Many Cartmel patterns are reversed on sock #2, providing both knitterly and visual interest.
Here’s a detail shot of Aphrodite:
Sock #2 – Lines x 3
My second Cartmel sock is Linesx3, and it too has mirror image left and right socks. I knit these for a girlfriend, and this pattern actually took a bit more concentration than I expected. I kept taking it to knitting groups and meetings, and repeatedly found that counting to three (there are 3 rounds in the basic pattern repeat) is not something I do well in public.
I knit this pair in Violet Crush Sock. I think it’s my new fave color for this summer.
I’m not sure what comes next. I’m quite drawn to Jeannie’s Pride.
