Arete

“Walk quickly through the great hall ‘til you reach my mother, who sits in the firelight by the hearth, spinning yarn dyed with sea-purple – a marvellous sight.”

Homer, The Odyssey V1:304-306 (translated by E.V Rieu)


Arete, the queen of the Phaeacians, has always been one of my favourite Homeric characters. A descendent of Poseidon she was given respect and status due to the “outstanding skill in beautiful crafts and such a fine intelligence” given to her by Athene.

Arete is an ankle sock, with a neat, turn-over, lace cuff; just perfect for when one is sat by the firelight spinning yarn.

The pattern gives the instructions for a two-colour version with contrasting cuffs, heels and toes as well as how to set up helical stripes if you fancied a bit more detail.

When I decided to name these socks Arete, Lucy immediately came up with the idea of dyeing the Sea-Shell Collection in a gorgeous BFL and bamboo mix that showed off the sutble shell-like colours to perfection.  We decided on a set of 2 x 50g which would be enough for either the two colour or helical striped versions and are available from https://www.lucylocketland.co.uk/

We used commercial sock yarn on the sample helical pair to show how they would look in an alternative yarn – again two 50g balls would be enough to make a two-coloured helical version. These can also be bought from Lucy.