Most of the time, when I start with a design, I have the idea for a pattern and then I rummage through my stash to see what yarn to try it with. Sometimes, though, I see a beautiful yarn that gives me an idea for a pattern, so I purchase the yarn with a pattern idea in mind. This time though, I agreed to design a sock pattern with the yarn chosen by someone else. So you can imagine that I was quite curious what would be in the package when the yarn arrived. And it was this
Flying Goats Farm Corriedale Socks in a beautiful mix of browns and blues in a colourway called Cowboy. I loved the colours the moment I saw them but then, it was easy to tell that it is a busy yarn and that the stitch pattern had to be carefully chosen. I took it with me on holidays and swatched... and swatched some more... and some more. And finally I came up with this
... and I named the pattern Oregon Trail right away. Maybe the name of the colorway - Cowboy - was the source of inspiration?
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route in the United States, which led through steppes, deserts and across rivers and mountains and connected the Missouri River to the valleys of Oregon. It took bends and curves to avoid any barriers and to make it accessible for large-wheeled wagons.
The stich pattern used for these socks, resembles the difficult trail: with small stripes of ribbing - the tracks of the wagon wheels - seemingly meandering between knit valleys and purl mountains.
The socks are knitted from the cuff down, with a rolled cuff. Heel flap and gusset are integrated into the leg pattern, i.e. they are formed by he garter stitch triangles you see in the picture above, which are on both sides of the socks.
I think the stitch pattern is a perfect match with the yarn and I hope you'll enjoy knitting it.
The pattern is now availabe from my Ravelry store, here: Oregon Trail
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