Thistle Lace Socks

As part of the Socks Knitters Anonymous Ravelry group's Design Your Own Sock June challenge, I've been busy designing a new sock and writing up the pattern. It's now available on the sidebar and on Ravelry.

I'm using a solid color Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in a mauvey cocoa brown color. I used a lace pattern from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury and charted it out to be knit in the round using a wonderful little app I found on the web. It's knit toe up, with a reverse Dutch heel and seed stitch side panels (or you could use ribbing) to customize the fit.

Vine Lace Summer Socks Pattern

In honor of Memorial Day, the traditional start of summer weather and activities, but also so much more. Take a minute tomorrow at 3:00 pm local time to remember those who have died serving our country in war and peace. Memorial Day started after the Civil War as Decoration Day, when people would go to the cemetary to clean up graves and place flags and flowers.

The actual stitch pattern for these socks has been around for awhile. I'm not sure where I found it the first time. I was looking for a stitch pattern for some new yarn and found it in my stitch library (culled from many sources, web and print based). It may be in one of the Walker Treasuries. A sock designed by Kathy Garguild is one of my favorites from the book Socks Socks Socks by XRX Books. (1999) When I do a search on the term vine lace sock (and variations) I don't come up with the reference where I got the pattern. I swatched with ribbing at the top and then started the pattern. After a few inches I decided that I didn't like how the sock looked. I did like how the yarn's soft stripes looked in the vine lace pattern. I ripped it out and started over with a simple garter edge, which ripples a little bit because of the chevron of the lace stitch. A better picture is coming soon.

Vine Lace Stripe Sock Pattern
Knitted on one 12" Circular Needle

Sized to fit Women's Medium (size 8 feet)
Gauge: 8.5 sts and 9 rows to the inch in stockinette.

Supplies Needed:

Size 2.0 MM Addi Turbo(r) Circular needle (U.S. size 0) (or the size needed to achieve gauge)

Size 2.0 mm or 2.25 mm (1 U.S.) double point needles, which you will need for the heel and the toes, set of 5.

I prefer using a 12" ADDI turbo circular to knit my sock, so that's how this pattern is written. It can certainly be knit using any method you prefer. See my post about using markers instead of needles to avoid ladders and convert any pattern to your preferred method of knitting.

100 grams of Opal Cotton/Wool Blend in the Hundertwasser Positive/Negative colorway. You may also use another cotton and wool blend fingering weight (sock) yarn such as Regia, Meilenweit, Lang Jawoll or Sockotta, or try Tofutsies or the new Bamboo blends. This pattern will look nice in solids or self striping yarns, or a yarn like the one I chose, which is a little bit of both. I'm not big on wearing the red, white and blue, but this pattern might work well in that yarn too.

2 small circular markers

Abbreviations:

CO = Cast on
K = Knit
KW = knit wise, or inserting your needle into the next stitch as if you were going to knit it
P = Purl
PSSO = Pass the slipped stitch over the stitch you just knitted (just like binding off)
PW = purl wise, or inserting your needle into the next stitch as if you were going to purl it
SL = Slip
SSK = slip a st PW to right needle, slip a second st KW to right needle, then move them back to the left needle knit those two together
TOG = together (as in K2TOG: knit two stitches together to decrease one stitch)
YO = Bring the yarn to the front of the work as if you were going to purl. Instead, bring the yarn back over the needle and knit the next stitch. This creates a hole, and a new stitch, which must be accounted for with an accompanying decrease

Sock Pattern
CO 72 sts. Join, being careful not to twist, and knit in garter stitch for 6 rounds, ending with a knit round.

Garter Stitch in the Round:

Round 1: Purl
Round 2: Knit
Repeats rounds 1 and 2 for as many rounds as you want

Vine Lace Stripe Pattern Stitch (9 stitch repeat)

Round 1: *K1, yo, k2, sl1, k1, psso, k2tog, k2, yo*; rep between *’s
Round 3: *yo, k2, sl1, k1, psso, k2tog, k2, yo, k1*; repeat between *’s
Rounds 2 & 4: Knit
Repeats rounds 1-4 for pattern

Place a marker at join. The striping pattern of most yarns should look nice for both sizes at this gauge. Knit around in the vine lace pattern stitch until sock tube measures 5-6 inches long (stretched out), ending with round 1 or 3 of the lace pattern.

NOTE: Don't worry when you first start knitting the lace pattern. The sock will flare out and look like a flower and you'll swear it will never fit anyone but Bigfoot. Not to worry, keep knitting a few repeats of the lace and the sock will calm down. The top does flop over a bit when not on the foot. I don't find this to be a problem. If it really bothers you, you can knit a few more rounds of garter stitch before beginning the lace pattern. The lace does not have a lot of widthwise stretch (think Jaywalker).

Remove marker until the heel is finished. Change to double pointed needles (or keep using two circulars or one long magic loop circular), keeping the instep stitches on the circular needle. I knit the heel on double points. Knit across the first 36 stitches. This is the first row of the heel.

Heel: Eye of Partridge with slipped stitch edge (EOP)

Row 1: *slip 1, K1,* repeat between *'s to end

Row 2: slip 1, P to end

Row 3: slip 1, K1, *k1, slip 1,* repeat between *'s to last 2 sts, end K2 (Don’t end with a slipped stitch.) This alternates the slipped stitches, creating the EOP pattern. I originally discovered (unvented) this variation when I made a mistake doing the heel sitch and liked what I created. Later on I learned that it had a name. Many patterns will have you slip two stitches at the start of round 3, then K1, SL1, but for stability I prefer to have two knit stitches in a row instead of two slipped stitches.

Row 4: repeat Row 2.

Knit in this pattern until heel flap is 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 inches long. This is a matter of personal preference. Measure the bare foot of the intended recipient from floor to middle of ankle bone to determine the correct measurement. You can also knit until the heel flap is square, as many patterns state, but with the eye of partridge stitch drawing in the heel I prefer to use an actual measurement.

Heel turn: (round heel) Thanks to Dave Mackay's "heels by number" which was the inspiration for these.

(Note: SSK = slip a st PW* to right needle, slip a second st KW* to right needle, then knit those two together)

Row 1: slip 1, knit 18, ssk, k 1, turn

Row 2: slip 1, purl 5, p2tog, p1, turn

Row 3: slip 1, knit 6, ssk, k1, turn

Row 4: slip 1, purl 7, p2tog, p 1, turn.

Continue on, adding one st knitted or purled at the center of the row until all sts have been worked. I try to keep knitting the heel turn in the EOP stitch, but it's not essential. You should be ending with a knit row. If not, knit across the heel until you reach the first pick up edge.

Using a new double point needle, pick up & knit one st from each slipped st along the edge of the heel flap (about 20). If there is a little gap where the heel meets the instep stitches, pick up a strand and twist it, then knit it to close the hole. If you have to, pick up another loose area and repeat the process. Place the first marker here. Knit across the 36 instep stitches (still waiting patiently on the circular needle holder), place second marker. This will be round 2 or 4 of the vine lace stitch (plain knit), which you didn't knit earlier. Pick up & knit stitches on the opposite side of heel flap, knit across heel flap to three stitches from first marker. You should have about 96-104 stitches on the needle at this point. It is not critical to have an exact number of stitches, as you will continue to decrease the extra stitches away until you return to the same number that you started with.

NOTE: I've recently rediscovered a great band heel which mitigates the wider heel stripes and all decrease rounds at this great site. I knit my last two pairs using this heel and it is very nice. I still use the EOP slip stitch, which means I have to add a few rows to the heel flap before decreasing. Then I have a few decrease rounds after picking up the gusset stitches. Thanks to Nan for this great pattern and tutorial, and to Nancy Bush for popularizing the band heel.

Decrease Rounds:

Three stitches from first marker, K2 TOG, K 1. Slip marker, and knit across the 36 stitch instep in the vine lace pattern to the second marker, slip it, K 1, SSK, knit around to the first marker. Around this point you will want to change back to using the circular needle. Knit one round without decreasing (or two, if you like a slower rate of decrease for a higher instep), and repeat decrease round. Repeat decrease and plain knit rounds until 72 sts remain on the needle, 36 on the instep and 36 on the foot. Knit plain, without decreasing, and keeping the instep stitches in the lace pattern and the foot stitches in stockinette, until the foot is about 7.25" long (2 to 2 1/2 inches less than desired length). .

Wedge toe:

Round 1: Knit to last 3 sts before first marker, k2 tog, k1, slip marker, K1, SSK, knit to last 3 sts before second marker, K2 TOG, K1, slip marker, K1, SSK.

Round 2: Knit around in stockinette stitch.

Change to double pointed needles again when you have too few stitches to go around the circular needle easily. Repeat these two rounds until 18 sts remain. Divide the 18 sts between 2 needles at markers and Kitchener stitch (graft) them together or do a 3-needle bind off like me.

Now knit the second sock!

Copyright 2007 Margie Dougherty

All rights reserved. You may print this pattern and share it with others, providing this notice remains attached.

Stash Enhancement

My (stash enabling) knitter friend & neighbor emailed me that she added a new rule to her personal knit from your stash guidelines. If the yarn is new to you, you are allowed to buy it. (Don't know if that means you can buy one skein or a whole project's worth.) I liked that rule. For her, it meant she could buy Colinette's new Jitterbug sock yarn. For me, it meant that I could use my birthday money and order a whole squishy full of new to me sock yarns from Astrid in the Netherlands. (They arrived yesterday.)

I got some Opal Bamboo in grey stripes for DH's socks, some Trekking Pro Natura (wool/bamboo in solid colors), some pale blue Regia silk, some Opal wool/cotton in the Hundertwasser artist colorways (the Positive/Negative yellow color is just luscious), some Trekking in pink and charcoal (very 50's), also some of the tweed and an interesting speckled color, and a skein each of Fortissima Socka Colori, Opal Smoke and Gedifra, each in various different blue and grey self striping colorways. It's a good thing I like blue! Those three skeins were on sale, and blue and grey always works well for gift socks. Average price with shipping, $11.00 per pair of socks. Astrid also sent 5 free sock patterns and a bonus skein of white angora yarn, and I got some 6" long bamboo double points to try out. I think I might also get some Jitterbug yarn. After this, though, NO MORE SOCK YARN for me, unless I trade other sock yarn for it.

I swatched for a new pair of socks using the Opal Hundertwasser cotton/wool blend. After considering the Quill lace pattern from the Spring Knitty, plus a few other simple lace patterns, I think that the Vine lace stripe pattern from the Socks Socks Socks book is going to work out best for this yarn. It's a simple 4 round repeat, easily memorized, which isn't totally obscured by the pattern of the yarn.

Last year I got inspired to compile pattern conversions for some of the stitches in the 365 Stitches calendar and the Barbara Walker Treasuries to knit in the round, for socks and other circular items. I now have a big Word document complete with images and the stitch patterns all typed out, along with multiples and repeats. I've also added stitches and images from sock patterns as I find them. At this rate I won't need a new sock pattern ever again.

Slip Stitch Patterned Socks

I thought I would share the first pair of mosaic stitch socks which I made a few years ago. I love using slip stitch patterns, also known as mosaic stitches. They work well in socks for uniting leftover balls of yarn using a 50 gram ball of a solid color as the contrast. and using the leftovers as your contrast color. This does make a striking sock, but there are lots more ends to weave in.

These socks were made with a semi solid vintage Opal yarn and lots of little golf ball sized bits of leftover self striping sock yarn. I used the Peacock pattern from the knitter.com. I like my version much better than the knitter's version, which is all in blues. The second time I made the socks I used the slip stitch pattern on the foot as well as on the instep, so the socks don't look quite as much like canoes. These socks fit fine, they're just a little baggy on the heel. I've found slip stitches are less stretchy and I need to use more stitches. YMMV, and the slip stitch pattern you use also has a lot to do with it. This one was relatively complicated: 32 rounds and a 30 stitch repeat.

Here's the finished spiral mosaic sock. I used 76 stitches for the ribbing and 84 for the pattern, which had a repeat of 14 stitches. 70 stitches would not have fit my ankle, but it would probably fit a normal sized ankle. I used 2.5 mm needles and navy solid Knitpicks Essentials with Regia color. I'm very happy with the look of the heel and gusset on this sock. I've made several mosaic patterned socks and the gusset decreases always wreak havoc with the pattern. I think I solved the dilemma with this design. On to sock #2 after I finish a few more second socks. Edited to add: Sock # 2 is at the toe finished! The toe looks very pointed on this sock but I tried it on and it fits me perfectly.

Sunday VII, Part Seven

This is my delightful niece Sophia, who was born in Brussels, moved to Prague at age 2, and lives in Rangoon, Myanmar right now. I knit her a baby surprise jacket when she was in Brussels. Now that she lives in a hot climate it's hard to find things to knit for her. She's 5 years old, goes to a Japanese kindergarten, and is a tri-lingual bundle of energy. Do you agree with Sophia that she looks like Stitch?

Seven things I'm grateful for this week:
1. My Family
2. Sunny Days
3. Mosaic aka Slip Stitch Knitting Patterns
4. Barbara Walker's Treasury books
5. Fiber Weekends
6. Husbands who do laundry
7. Leftovers (food, yarn, beads)