Don't Go Breaking my Heart.....

.... I couldn't if I tried!

Sorry, I couldn't help myself  :-)

I have a finished pair of socks to show you!  These are Breaking Hearts by Cristi Brockway who my Ravelry friends probably know as Turtlegirl76.  She is one of the moderators of the Socks That Rawk! Group.  This group does quarterly knit-a-longs and Cristi's pattern was chosen for Quarter 2.  I also follow Cristi's Blog and have occasional email chats with her.  When her pattern was chosen, I emailed her to congratulate her and asked if there were any colors of STR that she would love to see her pattern knit up in.  Cristi emailed me back that she had looked at my STR stash that I have on Ravelry and she thought that Watermelon Tourmaline would be great.  Awesome!  No need for me to anguish over which color to choose AND I had been looking for just the right pattern to showcase that colorway.

So let's start at the beginning.  This sock starts with a twisted garter cuff which was a new technique for me.  It took a couple tries to be sure I was doing it right, but I got it.

Then the pattern moves on to a patterned ribbing and some slipped stitches.  The slipped stitches are used to make the heart motif which I think is very clever.

The heel flap is patterned which then allows the heart motif to break and border both the heel and the instep.  You can also see in this picture that Cristi moved the gusset decreases to the bottom of the foot.  That does 2 things.  1st, it doesn't interrupt the breaking hearts. 2nd, it adjusts the fit of the gusset to feel like it is cupping your heel.

There are2 options for the toe.  I chose to continue the pattern on the toe, but you can do a traditional stockinette wedge toe if you prefer.

Here's the finished pair!  Click to embigen!

I thought this was a great pattern.  It was simple but has plenty of interest and it works great with hand-painted yarns! It was also well written and includes both written instructions and charts. Thanks Cristi for the pattern and the color suggestion!