I admit it. I picked this pattern for my A-Z of Rachel Coopey socks, just so I could make a Mad Max: Fury Road pun.
But it also gave me the chance to use this brilliant steampunk-coloured yarn called Mazikeen, which perfectly matches the Mad Max colour palate of sandy desert browns. The shade was inspired by the character from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman books, but principally from that character’s appearance in the Lucifer tv show. In amongst the browns are little flashes of olive green, grey and even the odd purple hint too.
As you may be able to guess, this colourway is from Third Vault Yarns. It was originally done by Lola for a partnership with Rhapsodye yarns around Lucifer, but Lola has dyed a few more skeins for sale since. The base is her Librarian sock – my favourite BFL/nylon mix. I love it for socks for the way it takes the dye, gives crisp stitch definition and wears like iron.
The Curiosa pattern reminds me quite a bit of Alonzo. It features some of Rachel Coopey’s trademark twisted stitch designs over long pattern repeats. There are lots of angular lines weaving in ways that you don’t see in traditional cable patterns. There were a lot of charts to follow, and remembering which chart to do in which order was a bit of a feat. The pattern was originally released as an MKAL, so there are no pictures with the instructions to help either – you are knitting blind.
I have to confess, I was glad to finish knitting this pair of socks. Although Lola’s dyeing is beautiful, the unremitting brown combined with the complicated pattern made these a bit of a chore to knit.