greenermakes

Geranium Socks – Knitting pattern

€6,50 EUR

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The Geranium Socks are inspired by the botanical genus Geranium. Its species are found throughout the temperate regions of nearly all continents. Many of them have a great ecological value for the native insect world; however, this is mainly true for the wild forms. Cultivated varieties like the common balcony pelargonium offer less pollen and nectar and, since they are relatively new, have hardly any ecological connections to the local fauna. So if you are thinking about enriching your garden with a lovely geranium, make sure to choose species that are native to your region to support wild bees and butterflies.

A combination of relaxing stockinette, an interesting textured pattern and a short colourwork section makes these socks a fun and varied knit. You will knit them toe-up, starting with Judy’s Magic Cast-On and working the foot in stockinette. The heel features a heel flap and gusset construction with an optional slipped stitch pattern. Then the fun begins: to create the leaves of our plants, you will use cables (which can also be worked without a cable needle, if you are more experienced in cable knitting). The leaves are followed by blossoms in stranded colourwork. This section invites you to be creative: you will only need the tiniest quantities of yarn, especially if you pick two different colours for the blossoms as I did, so this is an ideal opportunity to showcase some very small scraps of your favourite yarns. The cuff in half-twisted rib is finished off with a modified Italian bind-off (or any other stretchy bind-off you prefer).

For a finishing touch, you can highlight details on your blossoms with duplicate stitch – for example by accentuating the centre of the blossom, as I did, or by adding an edge around them. Duplicate stitch is a perfect way to dip a toe in embroidery as it is surprisingly easy and does not require any prior experience.

Sizes

2 width options, covering a size range of EU 36-43; more sizes can be obtained by using smaller or larger needles; foot length fully customizable.

Recommended yarn:

Fingering weight sock yarn in one main colour and one contrast colour (or optional second contrast colour and yarn scraps for embroidery), e.g. Woollentwine Ovis Sock

Yarn estimates:

Main colour: approx. 320 (350) m / 350 (380) yds
Contrast colours (blossoms): approx. 25 (25) m / 30 (30) yds in total

Needles and notions needed:

DPNs (5 needles per set) OR circular needles with minimum length of 80 cm (32”) (if you prefer to knit socks with the Magic Loop method), sizes 2 mm (US 0) and 2.5 mm (US 1.5) (if you prefer to knit with DPNs, I still recommend using long circular needles for Judy’s Magic Cast-on at the beginning)
stitch markers, cable needle, tapestry needle

Gauge:

Stockinette: 32 stitches x 42 rounds = 10 x 10 cm / 4 x 4" on smaller needles, blocked
Leaf pattern and stranded colourwork: 31 stitches = 10 cm / 4", on larger needles, blocked (the number of rounds is not that relevant as the pattern sections are rather short)