Treating myself! Bought the yarn as a reward for 8 miles walked in training for Big Sur. Cast on as a reward for the first day of the semester in King City. A commute! The horrors! :-)

Cast on 64 on size 0 birch dpns. 2x2 rib for 20 rows.
Pattern stitch is
Sl1 k2 P1
knit
k1 P1 Sl1 k1

Hoping to get a combination of texture and breaking up of the variegation.

So far the stitch pattern is working well. Tried using it on the heel, but it doesn’t pull in the way sl1 K1 does and the heel was too big. So I pulled it out and did a regular slip stitch heel. Sl1 K1 all the way across, Sl1 purl back. I debated about using eye of partridge since that will also give a speckled effect, but i think that one reason my Hermione’s socks are a little big is that the slip stitch heel really pulls in and Hermione’s have eye of partridge. I didn’t notice while I was knitting those, but I have a feeling that the heel was wider due to the patterning of that stitch.

On the foot, I have completed the gusset in pattern and left the very bottom stitches of the heel in stockinette. I like the effect.