Free Pattern: Ice Pop Socks

I know, I know, I’m terrible for having worn my May socks four times before sharing the pattern with you…(Make it five, I’m wearing them again now!)…but, as the mom of a toddler, I’m sure you can imagine how busy I must be.  : )

I call them Ice Pop Socks because the bright, summery colors reminded me of my son’s ice pops.  You know, the juicy ones in the clear plastic sleeves.  Mmmmmm.  Are you getting flashbacks from your childhood?  I am.  And the similarities don’t stop there—these socks are also fun, fresh and fruity.  But I doubt they taste as good.  I didn’t verify that, but you’re welcome to taste them if you want to.

They're knit in plain stockinette, letting the evenly dyed stripes do all the work for you, from the toe up with a short-row heel.  I used up almost every yard from my two balls of Felici—these socks are tall.  (Not quite knee-height, but close.)  To account for the height, there's some calf shaping near the cuff.

These socks are meant to be tight fitting, and fit snugly around a 7 3/4” circumference foot (at the ball of the foot). For wider feet, cast on a few extra sts (in pairs of two) and do a few extra W&Ts on the heel, if you’d like.

Without any further ado, here is the free pattern.

Ice Pop Socks

Materials:
Two balls of Knit Picks’ Felici fingering weight sock yarn in colorway Afternoon
Set of five U.S. size 1 DPNs or size to get gauge

Size: Medium – 7 ¾-inch foot circumference at the ball of the foot.  (They’re meant to be tight-fitting.  For looser socks, add a few sts to your cast-on amount—this will mean wrapping and turning a few extra sts for the heel.)

Gauge: 9 sts per inch in st st

Abbreviations: w&t = wrap and turn. View a tutorial with photos.

Tip for Even Striping and Matching Socks:
I’m a little bit of a nut about having matching socks, so if you don’t care if your socks match, skip this tip.  When using self-striping yarn, especially a yarn with wide stripes like this one, don’t cast on in the first stripe color.  Instead, pull more yarn out of the ball until you reach the second stripe color and start casting on at the beginning of the second color.  Once you’re finished casting on you can trim the cast-on tail to a more reasonable length (8-12”).  As you knit, be sure you’re not accidentally knitting with the cast-on tail.

Sock instructions (make two):

Using a figure-eight cast on, cast 32 sts on 2 DPNs (that’s 16 sts on each DPN).

Toe Increases:

Round 1:
Needle 1: k1, m1, k to last st on Needle 1, m1, k1
Needle 2: k1, m1, k to last st on Needle 2, m1, k1

Round 2: knit

Now that you’re increasing in pattern, you can distribute your stitches between 4 needles, with 9 sts on each needle and with the round beginning on needle 1.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have 72 sts on your needles, with 18 sts on each needle.

Foot:

Knit until sock reaches 2 ½ inches shorter than desired foot length. (For size 8 ½ feet, that’s 6 ¾ inches.)

Heel:

Set aside instep sts (the first 36 sts across needles 1 and 2), and work heel sts back and forth on last 36 sts (across needles 3 and 4) in st st as follows:

Row 1 (WS): Purl to last st, w&t last st
Row 2 (RS): Knit to last st, w&t last st
Row 3 (WS): Purl to last unworked st, w&t last unworked st
Row 4 (RS): Knit to last unworked st, w&t last unworked st

Repeat Rows 3 & 4 until 16 unworked sts remain (this will happen at the beginning of a purl row). You will be left with 10 wrapped sts on each side of the heel with 16 unworked sts in between.

Turn heel as follows:

Row 1 (WS): Purl to the first wrapped st, pick up the wrap and place it on the left needle and
purl the wrap together with the stitch, w&t next st so it now has two wraps.
Row 2 (RS): Knit to the first wrapped st, pick up the wrap and place it on the left needle and
knit the wrap together with the stitch, w&t next st so it now has two wraps.
Row 3 (WS): Purl to the first wrapped st, pick up both wraps and place them on the left needle and purl them together with the stitch, w&t next st so it now has two wraps.
Row 4 (RS): Knit to the first wrapped st, pick up both wraps and place them on the left needle and purl them together with the stitch, w&t next st so it now has two wraps.

Repeat Rows 3 & 4 until all sts have been worked and you have 36 live heel sts (72 sts total).

Leg: 

Go back to working in the round on all 72 sts. You may want to pick up two sts in each of the gaps between the instep and sole sts to close up the little holes that typically form there. If you do, be sure to decrease by four sts in the same locations on the very next row.

Work in st st until cuff reaches 10 inches.  Work calf increases on the next round and every 7th round three more times as follows:

Needles 1 & 2: Knit
Needle 3: Knit to the last st, m1, k1
Needle 4: k1, m1, knit to end of round.

Cuff:

You now have 80 sts. Work in k2p2 rib for desired length or until you’re close to running out of yarn (!).  Bind off, weave in ends and don’t forget to tighten up your figure-eight cast on before weaving in tail from cast on.