Next up in my series of posts about the F/W pieces is Nikoline!

These socks feel particularly old-fashioned to me, and that’s probably the result of reading a lot of Annemor Sundbø. The other main source of inspiration for these socks was a young Norwegian photographer named Nikoline L.R. (her work is absolutely stunning; view her flickr page here). I first heard about her through flickr, and I’ve followed her stream for several years. She takes a lot of self portraits, and there’s one in particular where you can see a pair of white and blue socks peeking out over the tops of her boots. I’ve got no idea what those socks look like below the cuff, but they made me want a pair of white and blue socks of my own, and so the pattern is named for the photographer whose photo I was inspired by.

I opted to take the ubiquitous Selbu rose, the Norwegian star everyone recognizes, and cut it in half. The motif is mirrored, so that when the socks are lined up properly, the point where they meet creates a full Selbu rose. The dotted “lice pattern,” as its known, below the top motif is very traditional as well. I decided not to carry it over to the foot, because I didn’t want to add too much bulk, and handknit socks are already thicker than their commercial counterparts. When you’ve got shoes on, no one’s the wiser about your un-embellished feet! The lack of stranded colorwork on the foot also makes this pattern easier to convert for toe-up sock knitters, as it’s written top-down.

Shooting these socks was easily one of my favorite parts of the photoshoot, too. The gorgeous model is my sister-in-law, Gretchen, who grew up with ponies and was thrilled to work with a Norwegian Fjord horse. And River the Fjord horse made a beautiful co-model as well! I owe a huge debt of gratitude to her owner Shelley, for helping out and letting us work with River.

For a full list of details including yarn and needle requirements, and to purchase the pattern, visit the Ravelry page for Nikoline.