Stripey Stairs Socks

I will be the first to admit I'm an adrenaline junkie when it comes to sock knitting;  I like the super complex wacky socks the best.  But, sometimes I am inspired to do something simple.  My friend Carol wanted to learn how to do toe-up magic loop socks so I decided to design a simple sock pattern that would be interesting to look at while still simple enough that it doesn't detract from learning the overall process.  Thus the "Stripey Stairs" sock was born.

The sock is very simple;  the "stair steps" are formed from all knit and purl stitches.  Aside from the necessary increases and decreases for toes and heels, there are no cables, nothing fancy.  So, to spice things up a bit, I decided to take the opportunity to force myself to learn continental knitting.  I've had several people tell me over the years that it's much faster, but it always felt "wrong" when I tried it.  Very, very awkward.  Which is kind of funny since I was a crocheter long before I was a knitter and when crocheting you keep the tension with your left hand like you do in continental knitting.

I won't lie, it took me awhile to get used to.  At first my hand was cramping like crazy and I could only do a row or two before needing to take a break.  I also changed the way I held the yarn significantly from the you-tube videos I watched because frankly that wasn't working for me at all.  Eventually though, I became very comfortable with the knit stitch.  Not so much the purl.  I can do it, but it's a lot more awkward and much more "swooping" is necessary.  I've heard that the trick to that is to twist the stitches and then purl through the back loop to untwist, but I haven't actually tried that yet.  But now, I have "graduated" to the point that whenever I'm doing long rows of knitting I gravitate toward continental, and when I'm not, I stick with my old English method.

The yarn I chose for Stripey Stairs was a Noro Taiyo Sock that I got on clearance when my beloved Madtosh store went out of business.  I had been eyeing the yarn for awhile but never bought because it always felt a little rough to the touch and I'm a sucker for soft yarn.  At half price though I figured I would give it a shot.  I am glad I did because I actually really love the yarn.  It was not as rough when caked up as it was in the original form, and it didn't bother me at all when working with it.  I read some reviews that said it twisted up badly but I did not have that problem.  And I absolutely LOVE the colors.  They remind me of mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I am glad I have enough yarn left to do another pair of socks with them!

You could use any self-striping, gradient or solid yarn with this pattern as well, but if you chose a solid then they wouldn't be Stripey Stairs!

You purchase the Stripey Stairs pattern from Ravelry.

Contra-band Socks

One of my CARTEL friends told me about a yahoo sock knit along group, Six Sox Knitalong, that was looking for design volunteers a couple months back and I contacted the group leader offering to provide a pattern for the group. (Thanks, Angele!)  They were looking for intermediate to advanced patterns so I jumped in the deep end and gave them the most complicated pattern I have come written to date, the Contra-band sock.  To be fair, it's actually a lot harder to explain than it is to actually knit.  Even though two people other than myself had already test knit the socks, the Six Sox test knitters did an amazing job finding errors, making suggestions, and finding places in my instructions that just needed some additional clarification.  Thank you, ladies!

This design was inspired by the idea of enclosing stripes your "standard" stripes in contrasting bands (aka contra-bands) for cool visual effects and some unusual sock construction.  These just-above the ankle socks are started off with a diagonally striped edging (secured with or without a button!) that is then picked up and knit cuff down with a standard heel flap.  The toes are then worked in diagonal panels that look similar to the cuff edgings and are grafted together.  Depending on the rapidity of striping or variegation in the yarn you select and the cuff widths & number of buttons used, you can get dramatically different looks.

The instructions provide all the techniques necessary for the pattern and there are links to some helpful tutorials as well as a guide for choosing yarns that will work well.  There are two sizes (58 st. womens / 70 st. mens) and several variations for the cuff (one button, two button, no button) and toes (standard, symmetrical contra-band, assymetrical contra-band) as well as suggestions on how to vary the size further.  It's very easy to lengthen / shorten as the main body repeat is only 4 rows long.  

This is actually the second design I've done, though the fourth to "publish".  Each design I do teaches me something about sock design and also seems to teach me about what I need to think about when working on sample socks vs. socks that are made just for wear or gifting.   The biggest lesson I learned with these socks was "Thou shalt not knit sample socks from unknown yarn!"  I absolutely love the way my first sample socks came out.  The variegation was the perfect length for the 58 stitch sock I knit and the colors were super cool.  Even my husband, who is not himself either a sock enthusiast or fiber artist, said they were the coolest socks he'd ever seen and wanted a pair (which ended up being my second sample, more on that in a couple paragraphs).  But the problem was, I have NO IDEA what this yarn IS.  I bought it from a small store in Farmersville, TX at last year's DFW Yarn Crawl.  It was missing a tag.  I remember grabbing a skein from a totally different color way so that the lady at the store could figure out how much to charge me but not knowing at the time that I was going to a) start designing socks or b) want to use this as a sample sock, I didn't think to photograph the tag or write it down.  It was a manufacturer I've never heard of and so can't remember the name of, and I bought the only skein they had in that color way.  Farmersville is a good 2 hr drive from my house so I'm not exactly going to drive out there with my sock in hopes of figuring it out, either.  But it was rather disappointing to realize after photographing my samples that I couldn't put the name of the yarn in the pattern.  

My good friend Debra and I just traded a bunch of yarn (although technically I took a LOT more of hers than she took of mine!) and she gave me a couple of really amazing sock yarns that I can't wait to play with...but I can't use them as pattern sample socks because I don't know exactly what they are.  One was a Jimmy Beans Wool and the other a Miss Babs, but I have decided I need to know more details on the yarns that I photograph for my patterns so that if someone really wants to get my exact look, they can.

Luckily, the second sample I knit was not only an EVEN BETTER yarn for this pattern but also one that I had a tag for as I bought it more recently at the DFW Fiber Fest in April.  Star Wars color ways are super popular now thanks to the recent release of The Force Awakens and as I love black / red / grey together I have been buying it up like candy.  Brazen Stitchery's Duet Sock comes in a lovely Knights of Ren color way, and their "shorty stripe" version works amazing for this pattern.  I can not rave sufficiently about how much I love this yarn.  The colors are so rich they almost look like velvet but the yarn is a sturdy 80% merino / 20% nylon with great stitch definition.  

At the time I am writing this post, I have designed eight socks (not all published yet).  Of all of these, this is one pattern that I know I will knit myself many times and enjoy it every time because of the variety of effects I can get based on the yarn I choose.  As soon as I finished Jason's pair the other night, I really was tempted to start up a third pair (I already have the yarn for it -- it will be my Knit Picks sample in Hawthorne "Arbor Lodge" which is a beautiful grey & pink color way), but since I have several other designs where I've only finished the first sock, I made myself get back to biz-niss.

If you'd like to try the Contra-band sock, it is currently FREE until July 31, 2016, and available only to members of the Six Sox Knitalong yahoo group, so join the group and get your copy.  In August 2016 I will add the pattern to my AnyeDotKnit collection on Ravelry and submit it to Knit Picks as well.