Coexist socks

My first ever MKAL and non-vanilla socks are done!

And I am delighted by them. They are the best fitting socks I have ever made (I made them using fewer stitches than previous pairs so they hug my ankles a bit tighter, it turns out socks really do stretch to accommodate your feet). And I really enjoyed playing around with all the charts.

The pattern allowed you to choose a different chart for each section, with each chart being associated with a different fandom. With four charts to choose from for each section, this was a great game to play along with. For the cuffs I chose Doctor Who, as I am a bit of a fan; the legs are Harry Potter, partly because I enjoyed all the books and films, but also because the chart looked intriguing. These two sections were the most difficult and took me a couple of weeks as I couldn't work on them with the children around.

I did the basic Eye of Partridge heel as the theme for the heels was 80s movies and I had only seen one of them (The Princess Bride), but wasn't keen on that chart, so decided to go for the easiest option. I chose the Twilight gusset as that's the only vampire series I've read or watched (not that I particularly enjoyed them, a bit too teen angst for my liking). The foot choice was obvious - Lewis Carroll - as Alice in Wonderland is one of my favourite books. I loved working this chart, it was the perfect level of difficulty for TV knitting with a little patterning, but an easily memorisable chart. I followed the Buffy the Vampire Slayer chart for the toes; I've never actually watched it as it was on at the same time as Dawson's Creek (which I loved), but would have watched if there hadn't been a scheduling clash (my children will never understand this issue now everything is available on demand). The Buffy chart would be perfect for crazy variegated yarn, so much so that I'm tempted to go and cast on a pair using that chart for the whole sock immediately.

This pattern has so many charts it was sometimes hard to choose one. There's a Shakespeare chart in the foot section that is beautiful. I'm definitely going to use it for a whole pair of socks at some point. And looking at everyone else's finished projects, there are loads of other charts I love. This pattern is one I will be revisiting!

I didn't complete this MKAL as a strict mystery. At one point I was a long way behind, so decided to have a sneak at other people's projects. But at no point did I know what my finished socks would look like, and that was quite exciting. And the camaraderie of the KAL kept me motivated, even when the socks were slow going. So I've decided that this definitely won't be my last MKAL, afterall, how wrong could mystery socks go?