Sock it to me again!

I tend to play "What if?" a lot when I'm working on a new design. When I finished the two versions of the "Victoria" mini-sock. a thought occurred to me: the pastel sample was in the exact same shades as some Christmas ornaments I'd purchased in our Texas days. Gee, if I had enough ornaments in that color scheme, I could re-do the decorations for the dining room! After three years of the same sugared fruit, I was ready for a change. It's too late for this year, obviously--I'll need a lot of ornaments to pull off this new decorating scheme--but if I start now, I'll have a leg up on next Christmas!

I loved the "lace" effect on the cuff of the darker "Victoria" sock, as well as the taupe Petite Very Velvet I'd used for the background of the pastel version. So why not combine the two? I "borrowed" the diamond motif of my "Harlequin" mini-sock and the mosaic-stitch floral motif from the center of my "In the Pink" Egg for All Seasons. Voila! A new mini-sock design which, as you can see, I wasted no time in stitching.

The cuff was worked with DMC #5 perle cotton #712, with a framework composed of tent stitches, diagonal vertical crosses and Smyrna crosses. Inside the diamonds I repeated the same color with DMC floss in compensated mosaic stitches, and have started to add the leaves--again in mosaic stitches, with DMC floss #501 and 503. Outlining the diamonds is Kreinik #12 tapestry braid #002V.

As you can see, this canvas is working up quickly! I hope to be able to show you the finished product later this week.