My first pattern published with a yarn company has been released! Taming of the Fox, a lace sock pattern, was released as part of the literary-themed Winter 2010 collection from Sanguine Gryphon.

When I first saw this colour (Between Good and Evil), the first thing that came to my mind was the image of a fox, and I knew the yarn called out for a design that somehow incorporated a fox. I soon found a stitch pattern that reminded me of sheaves of wheat, and the following passage from the inspirational story Le Petit Prince was instantly brought to mind.

My design is a tribute to friendship and the faith one fox placed in a little boy. The fox forever looks out over his wheat fields and listens to the wind.

Excerpt:

“Nothing is perfect,” sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.
“My life’s very monotonous,” he said. “I hunt chickens; men hunt me.
All chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike.
And in consequence, I am a little bored.
But if you tame me, it’ll be as if the sun came to shine on my life.
I shall know the sound of a step that’ll be different from all the others.
Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground.
Yours will call me, like music out of my burrow.
And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder?
I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me.
The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad.
But you have hair that is the color of gold.
Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me!
The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you.
And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…”

….

So the little prince tamed the fox.
And when the hour of his departure drew near—

“Ah,” said the fox, “I shall cry.”

“It’s your own fault,” said the little prince.
“I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you…”

“Yes that is so”, said the fox.

“But now you’re going to cry!” said the little prince.

“Yes that is so” said the fox.

“Then it has done you no good at all!”

“It has done me good,” said the fox, “because of the color of the wheat fields.”

From Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Price: $5.00

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Skill Level: Intermediate

Yarn:
• The Sanguine Gryphon ‘Eidos’, 4 oz/400 yds, 100% superwash merino, 1 skein, shown in Beyond Good and Evil
• The Verdant Grypon ‘Eidos’, (420 yds/384 meters; 100% merino; 3.74 oz, 106
grams per skein).
• Koigu ‘Painter’s Palette Premium Merino’, (175 yds/160 meters; 100% merino; 1.76 oz/50 grams per skein).
• Wollmeise ‘Sockenwolle 80/20 Twin’, (510 yds/466 meters; 80% merino, 20%
nylon; 5.29 oz/150 grams per skein).
• Socks that Rock ‘Lightweight’, (360 yds/329 meters; 100% merino; 4.48 oz/127
grams per skein).
• Indigodragonfly ‘Merino Sock’, (390 yds/357 meters; 100% merino; 3.53 oz/100
grams per skein)
• madelinetosh ‘tosh sock’, (395 yds/329 meters; 100% merino; 4.02 oz, 114 grams
per skein).
• Tanis Fiber Arts ‘Blue Label Fingering Weight’, (420 yds/384 meters; 80% merino, 20% nylon; 4.06 oz/115 grams per skein).

Needles: (2) US 1/2.25 mm, 16”/40 cm circular needles or size to obtain gauge

One set of four US 2/2.75 mm double-pointed needles for the cuff (or a needle two sizes larger than that used for main part of the sock)

Gauge: 34 sts and 46 rnds = 4”/10 cm in St st (unblocked)

Finished Measurements:

* Foot circumference (unstretched): 6.5 (7.5, 8.5)”/16 (19, 21) cm
* Foot circumference (stretched): 9.5 (10.5, 11.5)”/ 24 (26, 28) cm
* Foot length: Variable
* Leg Length: 5.5”/13.75 cm, measured from end of heel flap

Notions:

* Stitch Markers (2)
* Cable Needle
* Tapestry Needle