This original pattern is ©2001 by Kim Salazar. Please see the copyright note
at the end of the pattern. It is presented here for the first time.
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Notes
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I had so much fun working up the See Saw Socks pattern for KnitNet Magazine that I can't
stay away from Regia Ringel.
This pattern is yet another toe-up, short-rowed heel sock. The design on the ankle is
adapted from one appearing in L. Stanfield's New Knitting Stitch Library. It incorporates
the gentle eyelet studded scallop elements of classic "Old Shale", augmented by very
jelly-bean like mini-bobbles. At least they look like jelly beans to me when done in this particular
color Regia Ringel. If you don't have that yarn to hand, do not despair. These socks are fun done
in any fingering weight sock yarn.
I used two 50-g skeins of Schachenmayr's Regia Ringel in color #5048. It's a self-striping
mix of bright green, medium blue, fuschia, and orange. Each of the main color stripes is further accented
by a secondary color - pale green on the green, turquoise on the blue; salmon on the fuschia, and yellow on the orange.
The effect of the whole thing looks like a collision between a bag of spring jelly beans and a clown's
costume trunk. Loud, cheerful, and a bit silly in an "antidote to a New England February" sort of way.
These socks fit my women's US shoe size 10EEE feet. They are a tad wider than my Pine Tree Toe Up Socks.
I made them thinking of a friend with very deep insteps, who finds the close fit of short-row heel style socks
confining. I used every scrap of my Regia. I don't think I had two yards left over from each sock.
If your feet are narrow, consider working the foot and heel part on 18 stitches rather than the 19 specified,
increasing to 19 just before beginning the ankle pattern.
One thing I noticed using Ringel this time that I hadn't noticed in my two previous pairs of Ringel socks. This time
both balls began in the same spot of the stripe color progression. This means that both of my socks are
absolutely identical - with little blue toe points, pink and orange heels that begin in the same spot. I don't
know if this was serendipitous, or something new on Regia's part. My previous Regia socks had been from "old
crop" Ringel as opposed to newer stocks distribted in 2001.
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Materials
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- Approximately 100g of fingering weight sock yarn. I used two 50g skeins of Schachenmayr's
Regia Ringel, in color #5048, Clown.)
- US #0 double pointed needles - one set of five
- Tapestry or yarn needle for weaving in the ends
- Nylon reinforcing yarn for the heel - highly optional
- A safety pin or scrap of yarn for marking
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Gauge
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8.5 st = 1 inch in stockinette on US #0 needles;
12 rows = 1 inch in stockinette on US #0 needles
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Special Instructions
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These abbreviations and symbols are used in this pattern.
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| M1 |
Make One - Pick up the bar running between the stitches on each needle, knit through
the back of this new "loop" to make an invisible no-hole increase.
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| yf |
Yarn Forward - bring the yarn to the front of the work WITHOUT making a loop over top of the needle.
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| YO |
Yarn Over - Make a one-stitch eyelet increase by passing the yarn over the top of the needle.
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| K2tog |
Knit two together - Make a decrease that slants to the right by knitting the next two stitches together.
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| SSK |
Slip, slip, knit - Make a decrease that slants to the left by slipping the next stitch purlwise, and the
stitch after that knitwise. Return both stitches to the other needle, then knit them together through the
back of the loop.
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| MB |
Make a bobble - K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1 in the next stitch (seven loops on the needle). Now one at a time,
take the secondmost, then thirdmost (and so on) loops you just created and draw them over the first loop. This makes
a little knot of stitches. Secure this little knot so it stays on the right side of the work by knitting into the
back of the stitch now holding the accumulated loops.
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No-Sew Toe Cast On
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Take two of the needles and wrap the yarn around them, figure-eight style. The yarn should
loop around the bottom needle and cross to the opposite side of the top needle.
Loop over it and then return between the two. The result should look something like this:
Continue wrapping the yarn this way until you have 12 loops on each needle.
Let the end dangle free with no knots or other securings - you'll need to work looseness in the first
row out towards the end later. Knots will interfere with this in-flight adjustment.
Take a third dpn and knit across the top needle. Take the fourth dpn and knit across the bottom
needle. Be careful not to twist stitches - one needle's loops will be "backward" with the leading
edge of the loop on the rear side of the needle. Make sure you knit into the rear side of these
"backward" loops.
You now have a very narrow and slightly awkward strip of knitting suspended between two needles.
There should be 12 stitches on each needle. Don't worry if the stitches running down the center
are loose, in a couple of rows you can tighten them up by carefully working the excess down towards
the dangling tail end.
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Toe Shaping
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Row 1: k1, M1, k5. Using another dpn, k5, M1, k1. Using a third dpn, k1, M1, K5.
Using the fourth dpn - K5, M1, K1. You should now have 4 live needles in your work,
each with 7 stitches on it.
Row 2: Knit all stitches on the first needle. Mark the first stitch on the second needle
by inserting a scrap of yarn or safety pin in it as you knit it. This marks the center bottom
of the sock. Knit all stitches on remaining needles.
Row 3: *k1, M1, k6. K6, M1, K1* repeat
Row 4: Knit
Row 5 and subsequent odd rows: Continue adding one stitch after the first stitch of
the first and third needles, and one stitch just before the last stitch of the second and
fourth needles.
Row 6 and subsequent even rows: Knit.
When you have 19 stitches on each needle (76 stitches total) the toe is done. |
Foot
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| Continue knitting around with 19 stitches on each needle. For my women's size 10 feet I knit
until my sock foot measures 6.75 inches (approx. 16.25cm) from the tip of the toe. Note that I took special
pains (fudging a row or two) to end on the row in which a new color stripe segment was introduced. People with
smaller feet who are also using Regia should try to end off the foot section of the sock at a similar major color
stripe change spot. With luck that should be within a row or two of their target length. The foot when tried on should be
long enough to generously reach to the point where the ankle meets the foot. The sock foot should not
be tightly stretched when measuring. Once you have enough foot length you can begin the
heel. |
Heel
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Find the column of the stitch you marked as the center bottom of your foot. The needles to
the right and left of it (needles #1 and #2 respectively) will be the ones on which you work
your heel. The other two needles (#3 and #4) will lie dormant until the heel is finished.
If you like you can move the stitches from #3 and #4 onto a stitch holder or spare piece of string
if you are more comfortable working that way.
Start the heel with needle #1 and work the following directions across both needles as if
they were a single unit. I prefer NOT to move these stitches onto one needle because using
two creates less stress at the ends and tends to minimize any top-of-gusset holes when the
foot top stitches are rejoined to the heel.
If you are using nylon to reinforce the heel, introduce it on the next row.
Row 1 of decrease: K37, yf, slip next stitch purlwise onto right needle. Turn work.
Row 2: Yf (wrapping the yarn around the base of the stitch that was just slipped - it
should look like it has been lassoed by a noose), slip this just-wrapped stitch purlwise, p36, slip the next stitch purlwise
keeping the yarn in front of the work. Turn work.
Row 3: Yf (wrapping the yarn around the stitch you just slipped), K35, yf, slip the next
stitch knitwise onto the right needle. Turn work.
Continue in this manner described in rows 2 and 3, working one less stitch per row before doing the yf/wrap/turn. THERE WILL
ALWAYS BE 19 STITCHES ON EACH NEEDLE.
Each row the number of wrapped and retained stitches (as opposed to "live" stitches) will
grow by one. Eventually you will have only 12 "live" stitches - 6 on each needle. The
remaining 12 stitches on each needle will each have a wrap around them. At this point the heel
will look triangle with the top cut off. Along the left and right sides of the triangle will be
the wrapped stitches, evenly placed.
The last row before you begin increasing again is the row in which you purl 12 live stitches.
When that's completed it's time to begin increasing.
Row 1 of increase: K12, knit the next stitch through the back along with the wrapped loop
around its base. (I do this by picking up the loop on the point of my right hand needle, then
knitting the loop and the stitch together), yf, slip next stitch knitwise onto the right needle.
Turn work.
Row 2: Yf, (wrapping the yarn around the slipped stitch so that there are now TWO wraps at
its base), slip the just-wrapped stitch, p13, purl the next stitch along with the loop wrapped around its base, slip next stitch
purlwise (keeping the yarn in the front of the work). Turn work.
Row 3: Yf (wrapping the yarn around the base of the slipped stitch), slip the just-wrapped stitch, k14, knit the
next stitch through the back of the loop along with the two loops wrapped around its base, yf,
slip next stitch knitwise onto right needle, turn work.
Continue in this manner, working across the rows, knitting through the back of the loop
(or purling on purl side rows) the next slipped and reserved stitch along with all loops around
its base; then slipping and wrapping the stitch after it until you have "reclaimed" all of
the reserved stitches and all 19 stitches on each needle are again "live."
When all 18 stitches are "live" the heel is finished and it's time to begin working the stitches
on the top of the foot again. |
Ankle Join
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If you have been using reinforcing nylon, break it off before starting the ankle join.
Knit one row around all 76 stitches.
IMPORTANT NOTE: There is a small tendency for a little hole to form at the top of the
diagonal line made by picking up the reserved stitches. I counteract this on the first row
of my rejoin by picking up a stitch at the top of each of the diagonals, then knitting one of
them together with the first stitch on Needle #3 and doing a ssk with the other picked up
stitch and the last stitch of Needle #4. |
Ankle Pattern
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The pattern "row" (and new Needle #1) should commence with the stitch
column you marked as being the center bottom - now the center back-of-heel. This unit is
performed four times - once per needle.
Beginning with the stitch at the center back-of-heel (the first stitch on
new Needle #1) begin working the following pattern:
Row 1: P1, K5, K2tog, (YO, K1,)3x, YO, SSK, K5, P1 [21 stitches on each needle]
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: P1, K4, K2tog, K7, SSK, K4, P1 [19 stitches]
Row 4: Knit
Row 5: P1, K3, K2tog, (K1, YO,)2x, K3, (YO, K1)2x, SSK, K3, P1 [21 stitches]
Row 6: Knit
Row 7: P1, K2, K2tog, K5, MB, K5, SSK, K2, P1 [19 stitches]
Row 8: Knit
Row 9: P1, K1, K2tog, K2, YO, K1, YO, K5, YO, K1, YO, K2, SSK, K1, P1 [21 stitches]
Row 10: Knit
Row 11: P1, K2tog, K6, MB, K1, MB, K6, SSK, P1 [19 stitches]
Row 12: Knit
Repeat these twelve rows five times. Your sock will measure approximately 7 inches (18cm)
from the bottom of the heel.
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Ribbing
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The ribbing is worked in K2, P2 style, but with a bit of eccentricty. I like the lines of the
main pattern to flow nicely into the ribbing. To make this happen, I do a couple of minorly odd things
in the ribbing repeat. Watch closely.
Row 1: P1, (K2, P2)2x, K1, (P2, K2)2x, P1 [repeat this once on each needle]
This aligns one of the P2 troughs with the column dividing the panels of the main pattern; sets a
single K1 column above the centermost point of the bobble triad; and continues
the outer "arm" of the main pattern onto one of the K2 ribs.
Continue knitting the ribbing until it is about 2.5 inches (about 6.25cm). The ribbing will draw in
a lot compared to the sock's patterned body. Don't worry. It's all stretch and won't bind when worn.
Cast off VERY loosely, then work Sock #2 to match. Taking into consideration that you use just about every bit
of a skein to make one of these socks, examine the place in the color repeat where your second skein begins. If it
is at the same point the socks will match very closely. If not, you may end up with one sock with a blue toe, and
another with a pink toe. Decide whether or not this will bother you, and whether you have the yardage and desire to
"sacrifice" a length, snipping it off to bring Skein #2 into color repeat synchronization with Skein #1.
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Finishing
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When both socks are done, use the tapestry needle to weave in the loose
ends at toe and top.
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