Red Scoks for CIC

These socks were knit for the CIC_Knit List big kids challenge ending March 31. This is pair four of my five pair personal goal for the challenge.

Pattern: Susan's Mystery Socks, official sock name not yet revealed.

Yarn: Red Patternworks Bretton (70% superwash wool, 25% nylon, and 5% alpaca) with leftover red and gray Austermann Step 18 carried along.

Needles: Pony Pearl #5 double points

Gauge: 5 stitches/inch (approximate, I didn't measure)

Inspiration: Seeing Pat's red socks.


It was Monday evening and I was settled into my knitting spot wondering what to pick up. My mood was tired from shoveling and I wanted to knit something mindless but interesting.

Looking around at my knitting mess, I spotted the red Bretton from Patternworks and two balls of Austermann Step leftover from my birthday socks.

At that point, I remembered admiring Pat's red socks knit from Susan's Mystery Pattern. I quickly printed off the pattern, sat down and cast on.

I used the smallest ball of Step for the first sock, knit until it was gone, and finished up the foot with some gray Opal UNI-Solid. Then I knit the second sock to match.

For once I followed a pattern exactly - almost. When I got to the toe, I realized I hadn't printed that part of the pattern so I finished with the same toe I always use. It turned out to be the same as Susan's toe except for having one extra row of knit without decreases.

Since the socks are for CIC, I didn't need to worry about fit. Lengthwise they fit me (shoe size 6), but they are a bit too wide for my narrow feet.

As part of writing the pattern, Susan wrote an excellent tutorial on how to Kitchener . Using her 3 basic rules and 2 easy steps, anyone can master the Kitchener stitch.