gentleman's fancy

Now, is fancy an adjective here, or a noun? Gentleman's fancy sock, as in the sock has a fancy pattern, or, this sock is named for a gentleman's fancy (that is something that a gentleman fancies)? In which latter case, what does a gentleman fancy?

Well, my gentleman (aka Tim my husband) fancies me because he has warm toes in the socks that I hand-knitted for him.


The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Gentleman's Fancy Sock from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks (did I need to clarify?)
Yarn: Patonyle in a variegated blue that I bought on sale for $5.00 a ball at the Stitches and Craft Show.
Needles: 4:00mm bamboo dpns to cast on; 2.25mm bamboo dpns to knit - they've bent a bit but I think that's ok.
Start to finish: 25 April 2008 to 31 October 2008.

Last month when my mother was visiting we went over to Bainbridge Island on the ferry and bought a ball of Noro Kureyon sock yarn at Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. I joked to my mum that I was going to knit myself a pair first but not to worry, it only takes me six months to knit a pair of socks. Darn it - turns out that it does take me six months to knit a pair of socks! Oh well, this is because they are my background knitting - I work away at them in the odd moments, in the car when Tim is driving, at knit night, on the bus if I have my hands to myself. And again, I ran out of yarn just at the very end, just like with Tim's dad's socks, and had to use up a bit more of that same extra ball that I bought (again Patonyle).

This is a good pattern and as an added bonus, it looks really great inside out as well! The pattern looks like bamboo when the two plain rounds are in reverse stocking stitch. If I were to knit these again I would consider knitting them like this deliberately.








I followed the pattern to the t on these - using k1 sl1 psso instead of the usual ssk and making the quite pointy toe - to keep them authentically vintage.

So, next pair of socks are for me - hooray! It's just that there are so many patterns out there to choose from ...