Knit for Victory

My dear friend Jack bought me a yarn voucher for my birthday last year and I promised myself that I’d make him a pair of socks from the yarn I bought. I’ve known Jack since college and one thing he’s always seemed to have is holy socks so I feel his feet deserve to have a lovely pair of thick socks to keep him warm.

I chose a manly khaki colour and decided on a rib pattern. However, as I’ve knit them up they look exactly like the sweater my brother’s action man had when we were kids, hence the name. It’s also a friendly dig at Jack who is many things but definitely not an “Action Man”!

As I know Jack wears his socks out, I decided on a super enforced heel that keeps the rib pattern.

Using Sock weight wool of your choosing CO 72 sts and split across 4 needles (18 per needle) – this can be amended providing it’s a multiple of 6.

Cuff:

Knit 4, Purl 2 – repeat to end of round
Continue pattern until cuff is desired length

Heel Flap
With 36 sts
1st row: Sl1, K1, Sl1, K1, Sl1 purl wise (with yarn in front), P1 – repeat until last st, P tbl
2nd row:  Sl1, K1, P4, K2, P4 – repeat until last st, Ktbl
Repeat these rows 17 more times

Turning the heel
1st row: K22, ssk, k1, turn
2nd row: Sl1  purlwise, P8, p2tog, p1, turn
3rd row: Sl1, K until 1 st before gap, ssk, k1, turn
4th row: Sl1 purlwise, P until 1 st before gap, p2tog, p1, turn
Continue in this manner until all heel sts are worked.

Gusset
pick up 18sts along heel flap, continue rib pattern across top 36 sts, pick up 18sts along other side of heel flap
Next and every other round until back to 72sts: K heel sts until 3 sts away from front 36 sts, k2tog, knit 36 top sts in rib pattern, k1, ssk of other side
Round 2: Knit all heel sts, rib 36 top sts

Continue until 72sts in total (36 top of foot sts in rib, 36 bottom sts in stocking stitch)

Next round: Increase ribbing down each side of foot by purling 2 sts before top 36 and k4, p2 on first 6 sts after 36 sts – this creates a more attractive integrated ribbing on the top of the foot.

As these are for a man with fairly long toes, I did the first 3 decrease rounds over 9 rounds rather than 6.
First round (with sts split equally over the needles with split in the middle of the sock and at the exact edges) Needle 1 is left hand side of bottom of sock
Needle 1: knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1
Needle 2: k1, ssk, knit to end
Needle 3: knit to last 2 sts, k2tog, k1
Needle 4: k1, ssk, knit to end
Next 2 rounds: Knit all stitches
Repeat twice more
After this, continue decrease round every other round until 18 sts are left on the front of the sock and 18 sts left on the bottom.
Finish in Kitchener stitch

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 5:33 pm and is filed under knitting, pattern, socks, yarn. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.