Blue Stone Road
Rebecca Hickman (rhickman4 @ gmail.com, starflower4 on Ravelry) The name of these socks popped into my head when I misread a store name on the outside of a bag of a fellow commuter in the subway station. Blue Stone Road seemed like the perfect name for this combination of yarn and pattern, which uses the Steps stitch from The Harmony Guides Knits & Purls. These toe-up socks with a short row heel are nice and stretchy but could easily be sized up or down by increasing or decreasing the number of stitches in multiples of 8, or changing your needle size.
FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Foot will comfortably stretch to fit up to 8 (9, 10) inches.
MATERIALS
Sunshine Yarns Twist Sock Yarn $100\%$ Superwash Merino), 1 skein (395 yards, $100g)$ 1-2 US #1 $1/2\,/2.5\mathrm{mm}$ circular nedle(s) or DPNs, or size needed to obtain gauge Tapestry needle SIZING Small (medium, large)
KEY
Kfb: knit into the front of the stitch but don't slide it off the left needle. Knit again into the back of the stitch. w&t (wrap & turn): on right side, bring yarn to front of needle, sll, bring yarn to back, move. slipped stitch back to left needle, turn work. On left side, bring yarn to back of needle, sll, bring yarn to front, move slipped stitch back to left needle, turn work.
GAUGE
36 sts/48 rows $=4$ inches in stockinette st
TOE
Row 1: knit Row 2: kfb, knit to last stitch on needle, kfb; repeat for needle 2 Using Judy's Magic Cast-on, cast on 16, (16, 24) stitches. Work Row 1 and 2, then repeat Row 2 3, (4, 4) more times (32, (36, 44) stitches). Work Row 1 and 2. Repeat 3, (4, 4) more times (48, (56, 64) stitches). Work Row 1 twice, then row 2 (52, (60, 68) stitches). Repeat these 3 rows two more times (increasing every $3^{\mathrm{rd}}$ row) (64, (72, 80) stitches.
FOOT
Needle 1 (instep) will be worked in pattern while Needle 2 (sole) will be worked in stockinette. Blue Stone Road pattern: Rows 1-4: $\ast\mathrm{k}4$ , p4, repeat from \* to end Rows 5-8: k2, \*p4, k4, repeat from \* to last 2 stitches, k2 Rows 9-12: $^{*}\mathrm{p4}$ , k4, repeat from \* to end Rows 13-16: p2, $\ast\mathrm{k}4$ p4, repeat from \* to last 2 stitches, p2 Continue working needle 1 in Blue Stone Road pattern and needle 2 in stockinette until foot is $2^{\bullet}$ less than desired length, stopping at beginning of needle 2.
HEEL
Heel will be worked back and forth on needle 2. Row 1: k31, (35, 39), w&t Row 2: sl1, p30 (34,39), w&t Row 3: sl1, k to last unwrapped stitch, w&t Row 4: sl1, p to last unwrapped stitch, w&t Repeat rows 3 and 4 until 10 (12, 14) unwrapped stitches remain in centre of heel. Ending with row 2, there will be 11 (12, 13) wrapped stitches on either side of these centre stitches.
TURN HEEL
Row 1: sll1, p9 (10, 11), pick up wrap on next stitch and p2tog with stitch, w&t Row 2: sll, k10 (11, 12), pick up wrap on next stitch and k2tbl with stitch, w&t Row 3: sl1, p to double-wrapped stitch, pick up both wraps and p3tog with stitch, w&t Row 4: sl1, k to double wrapped stitch, pick up both wraps and k3tbl with stitch, w&t Repeat rows 3 and 4 nine (10, 11) more times until all wrapped stitches have been picked up. M1k in gap between heel and instep. Work needle 1 in pattern, mlk in gap between instep and heel.
LEG
You are now at the beginning of needle 2. Keeping in pattern, k2tog or p2tog first stitch with stitch you made to close gap between heel and instep. Work needle 2 same as needle 1. Continue working needle 1 and 2 in pattern as set until leg is desired length. RIBBING $^{*}\mathrm{k}2$ p2, repeat to end. Work in 2x2 ribbing for 11 rounds. FINISHING Bind off using a larger needle or a sewn bind off. Weave in all ends and block lightly if desired.
