I had my first attempt at painting a sock blank a couple of months ago at Kässäkerho Pom Pom Super Weekend. Obviously, I was anxious to get the sock blank on the needles. I painted the sock blank with a fade in mind, thinking that I would knit two socks at the same time, unravelling the sock blank from both ends.


I soon learned that this would not happen, as the blank only unravels from the top down and not from bottom up. I had to rip the whole blank and cake it before I could continue. This took a bit of the fun of knitting a sock blank, but it was still nice to wait for the next color to appear.
By the time I got to the second color, I was getting bored with the basic socks. I started thinking about what pattern I could start with the foot almost done, and then I remembered Vanilla is the New Black socks. I quickly learned that it's a cuff-to-toes design, and I was working toe-up. Luckily, there is also a Vanilla Reversed pattern, which is basically the same design, but worked toe-up.