Waving Lace Socks

Here are my first pair of Waving Lace socks. These were knit on size US 0/2.00mm dpns with KnitPicks Bare Merino Wool I hand-dyed in a rose/purple colorway . I wasn't too crazy about the color when I first dyed this yarn (the purple came out a little on the gray side), but it really grew on me as I began to knit. The pattern and yarn seem to be made for one another and I think these socks turned out awesome. They are a Christmas gift for my sister, so I hope she thinks so too!
I made a couple of minor mods to the pattern. First, I cast on 72 stitches instead of 64 and knit the leg of the sock with 9 repeats of the Scalloped Edging and Waving Lace charts; this was done to accomodate the hefty legs that run in our family. When I got to the purl setup row for the heel flap, I decreased the extra 8 stitches out by purling two together evenly spaced across the row. The other mod I made was to work the gusset decreases over the last/first two stitches instead of one stitch in from the edge as the pattern specifies. I did this for purely personal aestetic reasons because it makes the gusset decreases slightly less pronounced IMHO.

The pattern was very well written, easy to follow and the pattern repeats were quickly memorized. I finished the first sock in about 8 days; the second sock took longer because the knitting was interrupted by a severe head cold and a week's worth of Christmas decorating! Here is a closeup with the pattern expanded that also gives a more accurate representation of the colorway. On a final note, this was my first time using the KP Bare Merino Wool and I have to say that I really enjoyed using this yarn. It took the food coloring dye very well and knit up into nice cushiony socks. It will be interesting to see how durable it is as I have 9 more hanks in my stash!