Seriously Southwestern Socks Knitting Pattern by Mary the Hobbit: A Color-Stranded, Mosaic-Inspired Design

Seriously Southwestern Socks

by Mary the Hobbit I've always liked "Indian" designs, as we called them in my long-ago youth. Today "Indian" implies people and things from India, and the preferred term for American Indian is "Native American". whatever. Plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose. This sock is knit from the cuff down, and has a heel flap in eye-of-partridge stitch. Directions are given for 5 dpns. Note: this pattern assumes that you know how to do color-stranding.

SIZE

Women's Medium/Large. The design portion of the leg (not counting the ribbed cuff) will be about 4 inches long. Many people would consider this too short, so if you want a taller sock, do a longer cuff. You can also divide the patterns with more than the 2 rnds specified.

MATERIALS

· Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn, two skeins of multicolor (MC) and a half skein or so of a dark solid (Ds). Colorways shown in the top photo are Taos Thanksgiving (limited edition for Nov. 2008) and Chocolate. See Colors section below for other color suggestions. · 1 set of 5 US #1/2.25mm double-pointed needles · Tapestry needle for happy Kitchener goodness

GAUGE

34 sts = 4" in stockinette stitch (8.5 sts per inch) Note: color-stranded sections are not very stretchy! Be careful not to pul the floats too tight!

ABBREVIATIONS

sl = slip purlwise ssk = slip, slip, knit k2tog = knit two together p2tog = purl two together knit 5MC, 2DS = knit 5 sts using MC yarn, then 2 sts using DS yarn EOR = end of round RS = right side WS = wrong side N1 = needle #1, the first dpn after EOR as you knit counter-clockwise N2 = needle #2, the dpn after N1 N3 = needle #3, the dpn after N2 N4 = needle #4, the last dpn before EOR [2DS, 3MC] twice = k2 with DS, k3 with MC, k2 with DS, k3 with MC

COLORS

Since the multicolor yarn used for MC in the photo is a limited edition colorway, and it's unlikely that you can get it, I've made a list of substitute color combinations that I think would look seriously southwestern. With MC Woodlawn, DS Chocolate or Charcoal With MC Aslan, DS Charcoal and/or Brick One MC plus two or more colorways With MC Woodlawn: Chocolate, Brick, Turquoise With MC Aslan: Chocolate or Charcoal, Brick Navajo/Ganado colors: MC Aslan with Charcoal and Brick (however Brick is not as red as Ganado red should be. Sigh.)

SPECIAL TECHNIQUES

Usually when socks have patterns with two or more colors, both colors are stranded in pattern all around the foot, including the sole. I wanted to have the chevrons patterns in DS on the top of the foot (instep), and knit the bottom of the foot in the main color only. In order to accomplish this, I came up with my There-And-Purl-Back-Again technique. The basic idea is to work in the round with MC yarn but treat the instep as a flat row with DS yarn. Starting on R1 you follow the chart and use both yarn colors to strand across the instep. When you reach the end of the instep, drop the Ds yarn and continue knitting around the sole with MC. On R2, when you reach the start of the instep, the DS yarn end is not in the right place - it's "stranded" (pun intended) on the other side. Pas de probleme! You can work the row in two passes. Following R2 of the chart, knit the MC sts and simply slip the DS sts. At the end of the instep chart, drop MC, turn your work around so WS is facing, pick up the waiting DS yarn, wrap it around the MC yarn intarsiastyle, and work back across the instep on the wrong side, purling the Ds sts and slipping the already-worked MC sts. After you've purled all the DS sts for R2, drop the DS yarn. Turn your work around once more so that RS is facing, take up the MC yarn, and resume knitting the foot where you left off. Continue in this way, with odd-numbered rnds color-stranded in the usual fashion, and the instep worked in two passes on even-numbered rnds. In order to avoid gaps at the edges of the instep where the DS yarn stops, you should use the intarsia technique of twisting the working yarn around the resting yarn. On even-numbered chart rows that end with a Ds stitch, knit the following MC stitch before turning to work the Ws. This gives you an MC stitch "anchor" that you can twist the DS yarn around before purling backacross.

PATTERNS

Charts for the various two-color patterns are given at the end of this file. I used the Knitting Chart Maker by Jacquie at http://jacquie.typepad.com/ Charts/knitChart.htm to create the charts. The leg portion of the sock contains two patterns, Arrows and Diamond Mosaic. The Diamond Mosaic pattern is adapted from the Diamond pattern given in Charlene Schurch's book, More Sensational Knitted Socks. Basically I expanded it slightly to be a multiple of 12 sts so it would fit my 72-st sock. This pattern uses the mosaic knitting technique of knitting with a single color at a time, slipping contrasting color sts, and switching colors every two rnds. The instep features three variations of chevron patterns, starting with Chevrons, continuing with Chevrons Lite, and ending with Broken Chevrons. The top photo shows 8 reps (32 rnds) of Chevrons, 6 reps (24 rnds) of Chevrons Lite, and 2 reps (8 rnds) of Broken Chevrons. I made a second model using 5 - 5 - 6 and I think it flows a little better, but of course it depends on how much room you have (i.e. how long your foot is). For my size 8-1/2 foot I did 68 total rnds of instep down to the toe (where R1 is the first rnd after restarting knitting in the round).

DIRECTIONS

Cast on 68 sts loosely with MC using the Long Tail method or another stretchy cast-on. Divide sts onto 4 dpns; join in the round without twisting. You know the drill.

Cuff

With MC, work [k2,p2] ribbing for at least an inch or more.

Leg

Knit 1 rnd, increasing 4 sts evenly spaced around: 72 sts. With MC and DS, work Arrows pattern (see Arrows Chart): R1-2: With DS, knit. R3: Knit 5MC, [2DS, 3MC] six times, 1DS, 1MC, 1DS, [3MC, 2DS] six times, 4MC. R4: Knit 4MC, [2DS, 3MC] six times, 2DS, 1MC, [2DS, 3MC] seven times. R5: Knit [3MC, 2DS] fourteen times, 2MC. R6: Knit 2MC, [2DS, 3MC] six times, 2DS, 5MC, [2DS, 3MC] six times, 2DS, 1MC. R7: Knit 1MC, [2DS, 3MC] six times, 2DS, 7MC, [2DS, 3MC] six times, 2DS. R8: Same as R6 R9: Same as R5 R10: Same as R4 R11:Same as R3 R12-13: With DS, knit. If desired, the last 2 DS rnds of the Arrows pattern may form the first 2 rnds of the Diamonds Mosaic pattern. Work Diamond Mosaic pattern (see Diamond Mosaic Chart). R1-2: With DS, knit. R3-4: With MC, [sl1, k11] six times R5-6: With DS, [k2, (sl1, k1) five times] six times R7-8: With MC, [k1, sl1, k9, sl1] six times R9-10: With DS, [k3, (sl1, k1) 3 times, sl1, k2] six times R11-12: With MC, [sli, k1, sl1, k7, sl1, k1] six times R13-14: With DS, [k4, (sl1, k1) twice, sl1, k3] six times R15-16: With MC, [ (k1, sl1) twice, k5, sl1, k1, sl1] six times R17-18: With DS, [k5, sl1, k1, sl1, k4] six times R19-20: Same as R15 R21-22: Same as R13 R23-24: Same as R11 R25-26: Same as R9 R27-28: Same as R7 R29-30: Same as R5 R31-32: Same as R3 With DS, knit 2 rnds. If desired these two rnds may form the first 2 rnds of the Arrows pattern that follows. With MC and DS, work Arrows pattern again. With Ds, knit 2 rnds or more.

Heel Flap

With MC, k18, carrying DS on WS to end of N1 = start of instep. Turn, drop DS (but don't cut it!). R1: Sl1, p34, turn. R2: Sl1, [k1, sl1] to last st, k1; turn. R3: Sl1, p34, turn. R4: Sl1, [sl1, k1] across; turn. Repeat R1-4 for 36 rows.

Heel turn

R1: Sl1, p18, p2tog, p1; turn. R2: Sl1, k4, ssk, k1; turn. R3: Sl1, purl to 1 st before gap, p2tog, p1; turn. R4: Sl1, knit to 1 st before gap, ssk, k1; turn. Repeat R3-4 until 19 sts left (16 rows). RS is facing. With MC pick up 19 sts along edge and in corner; knit the 37 instep sts; pick up 19 sts along the other side of the heel; and finally knit 10 of the heel sts. Mark EOR here, at the middle of the sole. N1 has 9 + 19 = 28 sts; instep has 37 sts; N4 has 19 + 10 = 29 sts. There are 94 sts total.

Gussets

R1: On N1, with MC knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1 On instep, with MC and DS work R1 of Chevrons pattern; drop DS. On N4, with MC only k1, ssk, knit to EOR. R2: On N1, knit with MC. On instep, with MC work R2 of Chevrons pattern, knitting MC sts and slipping DS sts purlwise. At end of instep, drop MC, turn work so WS is facing, twist DS yarn end around MC, and work R2 of Chevrons pattern, purling DS sts and slipping already-worked MC sts. Leave DS yarn end at start of instep. Turn work back to RS. On N4, take up MC yarn again and knit to EOR. Continue to work the Chevrons pattern, decreasing gusset sts on oddnumbered rounds, until there are 72 sts left = 22 rnds.

Foot

Work in established pattern, knitting sole sts with MC and working chevrons on instep with both colors. After 5-8 repeats of the Chevrons pattern, switch to Chevrons Lite. Work 4-6 repeats of Chevrons Lite, and switch to Broken Chevrons. Continue with Broken Chevrons until you're ready to start the toe (about 2 inches less than total length). Drop Ds yarn and cut it, leaving several inches to weave in.

Toe

This is a standard wedge toe knit in MC only. Distribute sts so that there are 18 on each dpn. Knit one rnd. R1: On N1, knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1. On N2, k1, ssk, knit. N3 = N1 N4= N2 Voila! 4 sts decreased! R2: Knit. Repeat for 12 rnds, decreasing 4 every other rnd on odd-numbered rnds - 48 sts left. Vork R1 only to dec 4 sts every rnd until there are 20 sts left. nd of toe together with a joyful heart and the Kitchener stitch

Charts for patterns on leg

Diamond Mosaic

Vertical line: slip purlwise White box: knit with MC Black box: knit with DS This pattern uses the mosaic knitting technique, where only one yarn color is used in any given rnd, and you switch yarn colors every two rnds. The pattern is 12 sts wide, and is repeated six times around the 72-st leg. For example, read R3 as: With MC, repeat [sl1, k11] 6 times and read R17 as: With DS, [k5, sl1, k1, sl1, k4] 6 times