This was one of those patterns that I queued as soon as I saw it. I love color work socks and I love cats. I like that the cats in these socks have an abstract, primitive design.
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I’ve named this sock after my cat Rondo. Rondo has been obsessed with getting out of the house - since he was a small kitten, hence the name “Rondo’s Escape”.
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I will have to resize this sock for my smaller foot. I find a 72 stitch cuff works well in stranded colorwork, starting with a US 2.0 (2.75mm) needle. I will reduce the needle size around the ankle. So, I’m not too worried about the sock’s circumference. I will need to modify the length of the sock. Its likely that I will have to eliminate the last flowered band at the toe. We’ll see.
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My colors are as follows:

• Color A - 5639 Brown
• Color B - 5634 Mossy Rock
• Color C - 5643 Gold
• Color D - 5681 Parchment
• Color E - Fire Red I chose Pagewood Farms Glacier Bay instead of a Cascade red, because it was the perfect color! This color just glows, so it really adds a spark to this sock.
• Color F - 5602 Pale Blue Gray

Summary

• Starting weights: 5639 Brown - 101 grams; 5634 Mossy Rock - 101 grams; 5643 gold - 99 grams; 5681 parchment - 100 grams; Fire red - 48 grams; 5602 pale blue gray - 102 grams.

• Ending weights: 5639 Brown - 70 grams; 5634 Mossy Rock - 70 grams; 5643 gold - 90 grams; 5681 parchment - 85 grams; Fire red - 41 grams; 5602 pale blue gray - 92 grams.

• I am knitting using 2 circular needles.

• Cast on 72 using US 1.5 (2.5mm) needles. Used Tilly Buddy’s Very Stretchy Cast On

• Row 1 of chart is increased by 6 instead of 4.

• I’m knitting the Color A single row stripes as 2 rows. This lets me get a jogless stripe. I can also hide decreases in the second row of the stripe. If I decrease in the first row, I’m actually knitting 2 stitches out of the previous rows pattern together, so knitting them in the second row of the stripe hides this.

• I modified the first 12 rows of the chart. I am removing the 4 color B stitches from stitch 1. I am then separating each flower by 2 stitches. The center color E stitch will be 2 stitches wide to account for the extra stitch column. I will decrease the extra 2 stitches out in row 13.

• I knit row 13 twice. If I decrease the stitches in the first brown row, the decrease will cause a small modification in the pattern of row 12. I didn’t want this, so I knit 2 rows. This let me use the slip stitch technique to create a jogless stripe.

• All brown stripes are knit for 2 rows instead of the specified 1 row.

• I reduced the blue sky section by 2 rows. I didn’t knit rows 45 & 46.

• Heel flaps that are not done in a slip stitch pattern are longer than their slip stitch counterparts. I have reduced my needle size to US 1.0 for knitting a corrugated rib heel flap. Even with dropping the needle, my heel flap has to be longer than 2 1/4” to get a 17 stitch pickup.

• The modification I made by realigning the cats causes the first instep band of big flowers to be aligned differently than those at the cuff.

• Since my big flower chart was modified, I did a M1 at the end of the instep when starting the flowers so I can continue to use my chart. The increase will be decreased out in the second brown row after the flower band is complete.

• The double brown rows will change the color for the equivalent row on the sole.

• My pickup was 18 stitches, so I added an extra stitch between the decreases and the pattern. I will do the final decrease in row 12.

• Completely rechart chart A to center the cat. It was necessary to change the leaf pattern to something that would work on just the instep.

• I switched the background / foreground color of the sole. It was an accident, but I like the result.

• I changed needles sizes from US 1.5 (2.50 mm) to US 1.0 (2.25 mm) in the second brown row after the large flowers.

• I ended the foot with the small flower portion of the chart, modified to show only one set of leaves and then 1 row of the toe color.

• The toe is knit as follows: (K row, Decrease row) 8 times, then decrease row more times, ending with 6 stitches on each needle.

• Ends to weave in per sock: 43.

Journal

2013-10-09: Cast on 72 in color A, US 1.5 (2.5mm), Tilly Buddy’s Very Stretchy Cast on.

2013-10-10: Complete left cuff + first row of chart. I increased by 6 stitches instead of 4 because I’m making a slight modification to the first 12 rows of the chart to clean it up. Complete modified flower section, row 12 complete. Complete row 13. I’m actually knitting 2 rows for row 13.

2013-10-11: Complete cat portion of leg -- through row 36. Repeat row 37 twice. Since I started with a brown row repeated twice early in the sock, I need to continue making the stripe 2 rows wide. I may need to change this on the foot.
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Completed blue sky section, reducing the number of leaves by eliminating rows 45-46. I knit row 48 twicce.
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Set up for the heel by moving the first the stitches of each needle to the other needle. This results in 3 “unknitted” stitches on the back needle. I knitted them and then started the heel on US 1.5 (2.5 mm). I knit 18 rows in corrugated rib. I’m using corrugated rib with the Green (color b) as the knits and the brown (color a) as the purl stitches. The fabric was too loose and I was past 2 1/4”, but only had 9 slip stitches for pickups along the edge. The pattern wants a 17 stitch pickup. So I ripped out the heel and went down to US 1.0 (2.25 mm) needles.

2013-10-12: Completed 30 rows of corrugated ribbing on US 1.0 (2.25mm) needles. Heel flap is 3+ inches already. So I decided to try to strand the heel stitch. I have to carry the slipped stitch working yarn and catch it on the knit stitches. I am using the “as you go” end weaving technique I learned at stitches for this.

2013-10-26: Complete 33 rows of stranded heel stitch. Complete heel turn.

2013-10-27: Complete 10 rows of gusset. My pickup was 18 stitches, so I added an extra stitch between the decreases and the pattern. I did the final decrease in row 12. Tried on sock and it fits. Moving back to right sock

2013-10-28: Complete right cuff.

2013-10-29: Complete through row 24, right leg.

2013-10-30: Complete right leg.

2013-11-10: Complete knitting left sock. Still have a lot of ends to weave in! Moving back to the heel of the right sock. I discovered that I was still on US 2.0 (2.75 mm) needles for the right heel, so I ripped it out and started the heel over on US 1.0 (2.25 mm).

2013-11-11: Complete right heel flap and heel turn. Changing to US 1.5 (2.5 mm) needles to begin gusset.

2013-12-21: Weave in 3/4 of ends in left sock.

2013-12-27: Complete right sock gusset.

2013-12-28: Complete foot.

2013-12-28: Complete right toe.

Next Time

• Adjust the cat pattern so that it is centered on the leg. Divide the leaf pattern across the front and back of the sock (or modify this pattern--the leaves do not work on a centered cat when you get to the foot). This will center the cat pattern.

• adjust the small flower section to center on the cats and don’t have that funky 2 stitch gap in the middle.