Peony Socks

If generosity was a flower, I think it would be a peony. The sheer abundance of the blooms, which return in greater numbers each year: huge, overflowing cups of full, soft petals. It’s also a plant that gives itself gladly to other gardens. Lift one in autumn, ease the roots apart, settle the pieces into new ground, and each will grow on into a whole new plant, flowering for decades, bringing joy to someone else’s border. To give a peony away is to send a little of your own garden out into the world and trust it to bloom without you. I knit the Peony Socks from a three-colour sock set from Daffodil Road Yarns, which captures some of the many colours you can see in a single peony bloom: a main skein for the body, with two coordinating minis for the cuff and heel, but it would also be lovely in a single shade, or as a scrappy project to use up sock leftovers. A twisted rib cuff sits above a panel of pretty eyelet lace that runs down the front of the foot, with a ribbed heel and a neat wedge toe finishing them off. They are a calm, absorbing knit, with just enough lace to hold your attention and plenty of easy rounds to carry you along. The Peony Socks were designed for the 2026 Knit for The Girls Fundraiser, in aid of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. For the month of October, 20% of all pattern and yarn sales will go to fund breast cancer research in Australia.