PotPourri I – Learn-a-Stitch Mini-sock

updated March 31, 2020.
In the Learn-a-stitch Mini Sock series, several of the projects featured a potpourri of stitches. The colors and threads in each sock are related, but the stitches are not.

They also use a different outline, the Round Robin outline, pictured above. Click to see the outline full size.

This month’s mini-sock uses traditional Christmas colors of red and green and is designed around Caron’s Waterlilies in Holiday.

Patch 1 – Reverse Hesitation Stitch

Hesitation Stitch is a variation of Diagonal Scotch. In it, the smallest stitches are replaced with stitches in a different thread. It’s amazing how this little change really changes the look of the stitch. Hesitation Stitch always looks like oval-shaped diamonds to me, but Diagonal Scotch doesn’t look like either diamonds or ovals.

It’s a great stitch for almost any application.

Patch 2 – Triple Rice

This giant variation of Rice Stitch is so large that a Scotch Stitch (minus the smallest stitches) is used for the ties. Although it is a large stitch in a block, it doesn’t look big, just interestingly textured. The short stitches are always left out.

The left diagram shows the cross only; the right diagram shows the completed stitch.

It is also a fantastic stitch for a border, especially if you do the underlying cross in an attention-grabbing or flashy thread.

Patch 3 – Uneven Byzantine

Byzantine is one of my favorite stitches and I love to vary it. I’m particularly fond of variations where the steps are uneven. Depending on how different the number of stitches on each step are the look can be dramatic, subtle, or elegant. Here where the vertical step is four stitches and the horizontal is five, with a narrow Byzantine, I think the look is elegant and kind of Mid-Century Modern, looking like those broad shallow steps you find made out of flagstones in gardens.

Uneven Byzantine has become one of my go to stitches.

Patch 4 – Framed Scotch

When you surround a stitch with Tent Stitches, that’s called framing. Box Stitches are among the most popular to frame. Here Scotch is framed in a metallic of a different color. Make the frame in a contrasting color or texture and the frame stands out. Make it in the same thread and it is a textural variation.

This stitch looks best in large areas. It would also make a really cool wide border.

Patch 5 – Giant Annapolis Brick

This Cashmere-Scotch variation is named for brickwork you see all over Annapolis, MD. In it bricks are laid so that the long and short sides alternate. It makes a neat pattern that almost looks like columns. Because the units in this variation are large, it works best in bigger areas.