No Name Socks

Sorry this took so long. I'm not fond of taking photos.

No Name Socks

The stitch pattern in these socks is based on one from Gisela Klöpper’s Beautiful Knitting Patterns. The stitch patterns in the book aren’t named and this one doesn’t really bring any particular object to mind, so I was at a loss for what to call them (other than “seat of your pants socks”). The book really does have some beautiful knitting stitches, I highly recommend it.

These instructions will help you knit the socks as I did. They aren’t perfect, so a list of possible modifications follows the pattern. I’m using standard abbreviations that can be found at Knitty.

NOTE: This pattern is an outline of how to knit the socks, rather than complete, row-by-row directions. If you have never knit socks before, don’t try to make this your first pair. Or second.

As always, please don’t reproduce this pattern for distribution or sale, or make socks for sale using this pattern.

Yarn and Needles
The yarn I used was Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Stretch. I used a single 100g ball for the pair along with US size 0 needles for the foot and cuff and size 1 needles for the leg. The pattern is really stretchy, so I’m not giving you a gauge to work toward. Have you ever done a gauge swatch for socks anyway? Me neither. Use “sock gauge.”

Directions:

Toe:
Using your preferred method for toe-up cast-on (eastern, figure-8, magic loop), CO 16 sts.

Increase 4 sts every other round on the toe until there are 68 sts.

Foot:

Set up round: K34, [p1, ktbl 1, p1, ktbl 1, p1, ktbl 1, p1, k2, m1, k2] three times, p1. (71 sts).

Next round: K34, work row 2 of cable and rib pattern 3 times, p1.

Continue in pattern until you have worked through the chart 3 times, or to desired foot length. It’s probably best to end on row 11, 12, 23, or 24 of the chart if possible.

Heel:
Work the heel of your choice – I worked a short-row heel on the 34 stitch from the bottom of the foot.

Leg:
NOTE: You may want to switch to one size larger needle for the leg, especially if your ankles/calves aren’t really thin, since the charted pattern doesn’t stretch as much as the stockinette on the foot. If you have lovely slender ankles, I’d like you to know how much I envy you.

Begin working back of leg in pattern, increasing 1 st on the back of the leg on the first round. (72 sts). You should now be working 6 repeats of each row of the chart to make a round.

Continue in pattern until you have worked through the chart 3 times on the leg, ending on row 23, or to desired length, ending on row 11 or 23 of the chart.

Cuff:
If you switched to bigger needles for the leg, switch back to the small ones.

If ending on row 23:

Next round: [P1, ssk, p1, k2tog, p1, ktbl, p1, ktbl, p1, ktbl] 5 times. (60 sts)

Next round: P to end.

Note: On the next round, the knit and purl pattern differs from what you would intuitively expect given the charted pattern, just to change it up. If you aren’t comfortable with it, just do whatever combo of knits and purls makes you happy.

Next round: Establish rib as follows: *[P1, k1] twice, [p1, k2] twice*, repeat from * to * 5 more times.

Repeat last round 16 times. Bind off all sts using either a conventional cast off done loosely, or a sewn cast off.

If ending on row 11:

Next round: [P1, ktbl, p1, ktbl, p1, ktbl, p1, ssk, p1, k2tog, p1] 5 times. (60 sts)

Next round: P to end.

Note: On the next round, the knit and purl pattern differs from what you would intuitively expect given the charted pattern, just to change it up. If you aren’t comfortable with it, just do whatever combo of knits and purls makes you happy.

Next round: Establish rib as follows: *[P1, k2] twice, [p1, k1] twice*, repeat from * to * 5 more times.

Repeat last round 16 times. Bind off all sts using either a conventional cast off done loosely, or a sewn cast off.

Modifications:

Despite increasing needle size, the socks still came out a little tighter in the leg than in the foot, due to the stockinette on the bottom of the foot stretching more than the charted pattern. If you wanted, you could adjust for this a couple of ways:

1. Add another purl stitch between stitches 6 and 7 and/or 12 and 1 on every repeat of the chart – that should add 6 or 12 stitches for a total of 78 or 84 stitches.

2. Add a full repeat of the chart to the back of the leg – that will add 12 stitches for a total of 84.

3. Make the foot tighter to match the leg tension by working fewer stitches for the bottom of the foot – an easy way to do this is to increase the toe to less than 68 stitches and then do more increases when establishing the stitch pattern on the top of the foot. Remember also to adjust the number of stitches increased at the beginning of the leg to get 72 stitches.

The Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Stretch I used had plenty left over, so making the leg bigger would have been possible without an extra ball.

Other stuff:

• It should be very easy to modify this pattern for a sock worked from the cuff down. The chart looks virtually the same upside down.

• I have no idea how to do a heel flap from the toe up (and I was too lazy to learn for this sock), but if you do, I bet it would look cool.

Have fun!

© 2008 Sarah L. Castor