Alba is next on my sock tour through the wonderful characters of Jane the Virgin. She took time to grow on me, given that her role in the first season was to encourage Jane (and, through flashbacks, Xiomara) to give birth to children they might not have wanted at the time. Of course, a show this woke and nuanced wouldn’t leave her a one-dimensional character, and as she grew on me her continued arguments just gave other characters in the show the chance to argue the opposite side of the issue, so it all worked out!
For this pattern, I thought of what kind of socks Alba might like to wear. Something sturdy and comfortable - hence the princess sole and EOP heel - with just a little bit of fun. Once I knew I wanted to do a princess sole, I knew I’d need a pattern worked on a field of purls so there wouldn’t be an abrupt change between the sole and instep of the sock. I also knew that I didn’t actually want to do all that purling.
I settled on a pattern that uses a “long stitch;” except, if you google instructions for “long stitch” you’ll get something different from what my stitch dictionary says. To further complicate matters, I flipped the pattern around, so you’re actually doing a “purl long stitch.” Not to worry, though! It’s not a difficult stitch to work, even purling it, and I have a photo tutorial in the pattern since I couldn’t find any existing source to link to.
The heel flap took some noodling to get it to look right, since I had to think about everything backwards in order to get the pillow-y textured side you’re accustomed to facing out once the knitting was done and the socks were turned right side out. My prototype sock experienced a LOT of ripping and reknitting!
I should also say that the original sample I made was in the color I’d really like to have used for the pattern photos - a deep teal reminiscent of Alba’s dressier outfits (Knit Picks Stroll Tweed - Marine Heather). But, it’s nearly impossible to get nice photos of dark yarn during a dark Seattle winter (plus, I made some mistakes on the leg of that sock…) so I ended up reknitting the pattern in a lighter yarn (Miss Babs Hot Shot - Ocean Breeze) so I could get photos more easily. At least I could get some deep stash on the needles!
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