A few weeks after our son was born, my partner got a call that their Grams was really ill. So they went to visit for a few days, and I stayed home with our son. While there they got to visit Grams and I got to tag along through video chats and meet her for the first time.
She is a lovely woman and many of us will miss her a great deal now that she is no longer Earth side. But during this process, I determined that I wanted Grams to have socks to keep her warm during the last few weeks that we thought she had left. So I ordered yarn in her favorite color, and got to working on the socks as fast as I could. My partner came home, and after a few days we got the call that Grams had passed in the morning, which came at no great surprise though we were still sad.
That is when the socks that I intended to warm her feet turned into a way to mourn her loss, and hopefully to then serve her family as a bittersweet reminder of her in their own grieving process. It was only when I went to send the socks did I realize that they were a perfect fit for my own feet. Thankful that I had found the perfect pattern and had worked through the initial grief of Grams death I wrapped the socks and sent them out to her family.
And so was born the pattern for my favorite socks!! Find the pattern below, but the PDF download is also on my store page for an Ad free PDF.
Pattern:
Ribbing and Leg:
Cast on: 66 Stitches on a US size 1, 9inch circular needle, and join together at the beginning of the round. Place a stitch marker here.
Row 1: *Knit 2, Purl 2* repeat to the end of the row.
Rows 2- 12: Repeat row 1 until measures 1” or desired length of ribbing. If changing to a different color of cuffs, heels and toes, change color now before beginning the leg.
Rows 13- 72: knit across the whole row. At the end of this section the section from the end of the ribbing to the working row should measure 4”. Change to the contrast color now, and knit half of the stitches onto a double pointed needle of the same size.
Heel flap:
Now that your working row is on the DPN (double pointed needle) you should be able to begin your heel flap.
Row 2: knit 3 stitches, purl until 3 stitches remain, and knit the last 3 stitches.
Row 3: knit across row.
Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have 32 rows in total.
Gusset flap:
Row 1: Sl1, P17, P2tog, P1, turn
Row 2: Sl1, K5, SSK, K1, turn
Row 3: Sl1, P6, P2tog, P1, turn
Row 4: Sl1, K7, SSK, K1, turn
Continue in this way, increasing one stitch between slip stitch and SSK or P2tog on each row (ie, Row 5: Sl 1, P8, P2tog, P1; Row 6: Sl 1, K9, SSK, K1, etc) until all of the heel stitches are used.
Gusset Decreases:
Change over to your main color again, and knit across the rows marking where the stitches you had set aside before the heel flap were (I normally place stitch markers here since I tend to make crooked socks otherwise). I also use a small crochet hook to pull the main color through the stitches I need to pick up because I discovered that is much simpler than using the needles. This is because it makes more room, and you have an easier “cast on edge” to work with.
With the gusset decreases you only decrease on the heel flap side, and not on the stitches you held over. So an example is that if you make the middle of the heel your beginning of the round then you would
Row 1: knit to 3 stitches before the marker you placed, knit 2 together, knit 1, slip marker, knit to other marker, slip marker, knit 1, SSK, and knit to the BOR
Row 2: Knit around the whole row, slipping markers as you go.
Rows 3-: repeat rows 1 and 2 nine more times for a total of 10 sets of decrease and knit rows.
Foot:
Knit the rows until from the end of the decrease section measures 4 inches. (again I leave the markers so that my toes are even with my heel from past mistakes)
If you need a little longer of a foot, you would make sure that the heel to end of foot is no more than 2inches shorter than desired sock length as this last 2 inches will go into the toe.
Toe Decreases:
Switch to your contrasting color now if you are using one.
Row 1: Knit around the row to establish the color change.
Row 2: knit to 3 stitches before marker, K2ToG, knit 1, slip marker, knit 1, SSK, knit to 3 stitches before marker, K2ToG, knit 1, slip marker, knit 1, SSK, knit to BOR.
Repeat rows 1 and 2, switching to DPNs if easier until there are 12 total sets of decrease and knit rows.
Binding off:
Can be done 2 ways that I know of: kitchener stitching (which I am not good at) and the finchley graft which is much simpler and has better results in my opinion. It entails knitting with extra waste yarn and weaving off. In through the new and out though the old in a figure eight until all stitches are bound off. Videos can be found on YouTube with more detailed instructions if needed.
This one is very detailed and helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3sD_RU720c
Weave in ends to finish, and cast on the second sock right after the first to avoid second sock syndrome!