Odeline

I cannot think about the name of these socks without singing it to the chorus of the B52’s Butterbean:

Odeline was designed by Melanie Keatley of Braid and Tinker and it has the cutest pattern layout I have ever seen. Melanie designed the pattern to look like a newspaper, complete with “Reviews are in!” followed by comments from her family members. It was so creative about an aspect of knitwear design that no one ever gets very creative with. Ah! I miss your vlog, Melanie!

Something Melanie did occasionally on her vlog was to feature lesser-known patterns in her “Hidden Gems” videos. The desire to see something not in the “Hot Right Now” section of Ravelry is a refrain I hear over and over again from other knitters. I love that Melanie was responding to that, even if just for her own excitement of discovering something new.

I cast these socks on as a Christmas Day project in December 2019 and finished them over the following few weeks. But because I slowball here on the blog, you are just now seeing them. They have been worn, washed, and worn again many, many times. Maybe you’ve noticed the color discrepancy between the stash photo of this yarn and my FO pics. A couple of years of wear, potential color fastness issue, or a possible washing machine mishap seem to have faded them to a light blue- still a color I love. I haven’t had that happen with any Mockingbird Fiber Co yarn I used in the past, for my Soldotna and Kia Socks, so I am doubting my washing skills.

I rarely handwash my socks because… lazy. I do air-dry them, though. I have the cutest little air-drying hanger from Ikea that is helpful in our washroom. This way I don’t have socks, sports bras, and jeans drying over the back of every dining chair.

Details: I used size US 0s and Mockingbird Fiber Co. Rustic Sock yarn in an OOAK colorway. I followed Melanie’s instructions for the smaller size- a 66 stitch cast on. This is more stitches than I usually cast on for a sock but the nature of these cables requires more stitches to get the fit of a small/medium-sized sock.

This was a fun pattern, nothing I would take to a dark movie theater but definitely a more engaging design. I really like the look of it in tweed yarn, but with all of the stitch details, this would be a great way tp use solid or semi-solid yarn. It would let the pattern and yarn shine.

Personal notes in case I do this again: I did 6 pattern repeats on the leg before moving into the heel and gusset. I also started the toe after round 2 of the pattern.

The combination of cables and tweed yarn is perfect for a first Fall project. It is making me want to cast on tweed socks right this minute. But I have a bag of sock yarn leftovers that I really need to tend to first.