In December 1999, i created this, the second pair of socks i ever knit, as an experiment. They’re toe-up and have a different historical toe and heel from the first pair i made. I got the idea for the decorative pattern from Richard Rutt’s “A History of Hand Knitting”.

The word “baraka”, meaning “blessings” or “blessed” in Arabic, was knit around the edges of a mid to late 13th century pillow found in the tomb of royal family of Burgos at Las Huegas in northern Spain

I made a mistake on the first sock (in photo): because i’m left handed, i knit the pattern in mirror image around the foot. I corrected it and knit the second one on the ankle correctly.

I’ve noticed some time after i put this pattern on my web site, someone copied it without crediting me, and with only minimal changes, such as the color and the method of making the toe. Others have been inspired by it as well - it’s good to know one’s work is inspirational.

I finished them with a simple rib, because these were not historic reproductions. They were just a way for me to learn a toe-up toe and another heel that were new to me at the time.

Naturally, if you have a different starting toe, you may prefer to use that, rather than follow my wacky experiment :-)

UPDATE
In July 2020, my ISP removed all the websites it had been hosting. I now have a new host for my website and i have updated the link.