Many years ago, before we had to take off our shoes to travel by air, my lovely wife and I took a road trip through France. On a chilly gray day in the fall, we arrived on the northwest coast in Normandy to explore Mont St. Michel, an isolated abbey fortress where the tides rise to surround the island each night.

We drove the small car up the road that led to the island, following the few school trip buses and persistent vacationers out past signs that said, “Danger! Road floods at high tide. Do not leave your car overnight.” We parked in a low parking area and wove our way up, up, up into the town.

The pinnacle of the abbey rose triumphantly over the sea. Our climb to the top rewarded us with a view staring out across the gray sea to the horizon where the water blended into the clouds. The sun finally came out, and we laughed and explored, marveling at this fortress where people continue to live despite the nightly flooding.

As we walked back to the car, I went to the edge of the parking area (“Danger! Do Not Go Beyond This Point!”). The tides created shaggy triangular wavy lines in the sand, which was slowly drying leaving the wettest parts gray and the driest turning to a light cream.

We drove down the seaside to a small hotel for a restful night’s sleep and a meal. They seated us at a window facing the sea, and the dim dining room lights allowed the stars to shine. We ate while the tide rose and the sea once again covered that sandy parking area.

When I received my little package of small skeins from Never Enough Thyme, I envisioned a pair of mismatched socks, playful with an abundance of different patterns. However, as I worked with the yarn, my memories of that day and evening at Mont St. Michel kept coming back into my mind. These socks are mismatched, one embodying the actuality of that moment of looking out towards the sea from the cozy dining room and the second leaving reality behind (as memories often do) to reveal just the colors and lines.

With the Harbor colorway, you can recreate this scene, but other colorways create whimsy, bringing serious playtime to the scene as you experiment with stripes, stranded colorwork, a traditional star stitch used in Orenburg lace, and two slipped stitch patterns.*

This pattern uses one full set of Never Enough Thyme mini-skeins. If you wish to have a longer leg than called for in the pattern, make sure to purchase an additional set of mini-skeins as you will use almost the whole set to knit the pair of socks.

To substitute another gradient set, I recommend staging them from darkest to lightest colors within their color families while keeping those families separate.