Flattery

I'm on a roll designing on the needles these days. Here's a pair of socks I designed and knit for my mother-in-law, Cynthia, for Christmas.

Pattern: Flattery - by me
Yarn: Kroy
Needles: 2.25mm

I'm calling them Flattery because I was trying to imitate Nancy Bush's Latvian patterns. These socks have some ribbing on the back of the upper leg, and a lace pattern that goes from the top to the toes. You can see this design better when they're on the sock blockers.

You can also see how loose they are. My blockers are a medium, so I'd say that these socks are a ladies large, or more due to stretch. Cynthia is diabetic and has arthritis, so it's important to her that the socks pull on easily and are very loose. I'm very confident that these will fit the bill. I think this sock would be great for most diabetics or ladies with large calves.

Now I know someone is going to ask me for the pattern. So here's a quick'n dirty one. I expect you know how to turn a heel and that you have Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries. If you don't, try the library.


Flattery

First set-up that teeny cuff. Cast on 72 stitches (18 sts per needle). Work 4 rows of K1P1 ribbing. Increase one purl stitch in the last stitch of the last row and move the last two stitches to the working needle.

Next, set-up the calf ribbing and start the lace. You've already got two purl stitches on the working needle, now (K4, P2) to the end of needle 1. On needle 2 and needle 3 work Barbara Walker's Chevron and Berry Stripe. This pattern has a 17st repeat, plus 1 st to finish the pattern. So after doing two 17-st repeats, you should have one stitch left at the end of needle 3. Move it to needle 4. Now (P2, K4) to the last two stitches, P2.

On the next row, start working Italian Chain stitch on needle 1. Continue in Chevron and Berry Stripe pattern for needles 2 and 3. Then back to Italian Chain stitch for needle 4. I knit 3 repeats of the Chevron and Berry Stripe and then switched to stockinette for needles 1 and 4. When I switched, I decreased away one stitch at the center. Then I knit 3 more repeats before starting my heel. I had to decrease away two more stitches, one at each end of the heel flap to get an even 70 stitches for the whole sock.

I prefer a heel flap sock for roominess. If you're doing a short row heel, you may not want to decrease those extra stitches away, so you can get a deeper heel. Knitter's preference. And that's pretty much it. Knit your heel, then the foot, and then the toe of your choice.

I hope that's clear enough. I'll edit it if need be. I don't have any charting software to capture the lace pattern. If I did, then this sock pattern wouldn't be a freebie, ya know?