What the Sock – Knitting pattern

Do you know that feeling? You see or hear something so outrageous that you can hardly believe your eyes or ears, and you cannot help but think: “What the ... ???” Well, at least we have our knitting to help us soothe our nerves every now and then! With the playful colourwork statement on these socks, you can articulate your outrage using your own hands, stitch by stitch. And of course, What the Sock can simply be a fun statement piece to celebrate sock knitting.

The socks are knit from the cuff down, starting with a half-twisted rib pattern. Stranded colourwork creates the statement on the outer leg, while the rest of the leg is covered with a simple checkerboard pattern. Both the heel flap and foot are worked in one colour, and the checkerboard pattern reappears in a detail just before the toe. For the line spacing between the words, you will use the ladderback jacquard technique. Do not worry if you are new to this technique—these socks were my first time working with it, and I was surprised at how easy it is.

Sizes

5 sizes, corresponding to shoe size EU 35/36 (37/38) 39/40 (41–43) 44–46

Recommended yarn:

Fingering weight sock yarn in one main colour and one contrast colour, e.g. Woollentwine Ovis Sock or Pascuali Pinta

Yarn estimates:

• Main colour: approx. 200 (240) 270 (300) 360 m / 220 (260) 295 (330) 390 yds
• Contrast colour: approx. 70 (75) 75 (80) 85 m / 75 (80) 80 (85) 90 yds 

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)
• stitch markers, tapestry needle

Gauge:

• Stockinette: 34 stitches x 46 rows = 10 x 10 cm / 4 x 4” on 2 mm (US 0) needles in the round, blocked
• Colourwork: 34 stitches x 35 rows = 10 x 10 cm / 4 x 4” on 2.5 mm (US 1.5) needles in the round, blocked

Level of difficulty:

intermediate

Techniques (explanation/tutorial included):

• stranded colourwork
• ladderback jacquard
• increases
• decreases
• duplicate stitch embroidery (optional)