Seventies Stripes Sock

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This was my fourth project using Patons Kroy Socks yarn. It’s my favorite workhorse yarn for handwear and footwear. It’s only $8 or $9 per 50 g skein in the US and it comes in so many fun colorways.

As planned after last time, I designed these socks to have a replaceable sole. Instead of following a special pattern like the Moccasin Socks, I just did the normal cuff-down flap-and-gusset method but worked the instep and sole as separate flaps. I sewed them together with mattress stitch (the half stitch version) and resumed working in the round for the toe.

I’m really happy with the result. I was worried the transition would look weird with mismatching stripes, but it looks intentional. The socks are comfortable and I don’t feel the selvedge at all. It only took a bit longer but it will definitely save time if I reknit the sole. It was annoying weaving in six ends for the first sock, but I planned the second one better and only had four.

For the leg and instep I used a seeded rib pattern. It’s like a 1×2 rib but the “2” columns alternate between purls and seed stitch. Here’s the chart:

6 5 4 3 2 1 2 1

Overall I like the effect, but it was easy to make mistakes. Complicated stitch patterns are nice because they act like checksums: you catch mistakes quickly because they mess up the repeat. This pattern is too simple to catch all mistakes that way, but too complicated to go completely on autopilot.