simplest ever lace socks

I got this yarn through the ukarma swap on ravelry with the intention of knitting something for soon to be expected baby, however, my 4 year old decided she adored the yarn and recognising it as yarn that would knit socks, asked me to knit her a pair.

I've also been starting to add some complexity to my basic sock patterns, colour work, cables and now the simplest ever lace, with a yo, k2tog on every second row giving vertical ladders down the sock. It's not too fancy for her to wear comfortably at school, but interesting enough that I didn't get bored out of my mind knitting it.

The lass in question has 18cm/7 inch long feet. The length of the pattern could likely be adjusted to fit between 3 and 7 year old, given that the stretchy nature of knitted fabric gives a lot of leeway on foot width.

Anyway, after posting the pattern up to show the group that I got the yarn from, I was asked to show the pattern so here it is.

yarn: fleece artist sea wool. 70% merino, 30% seacell
349m, 115g

cost: free!!!!!!!!
since this was a karma swap, the yarn was technically free. apart from that, it will cost £13 per hank at getknitted.

needles: set of 2.5mm dpns

knitability: advanced beginner
another great second sock pattern

time: 15 hours


to knit:

1. leg

cast on 48 stitches and divide them onto 3 needles, 16 stitches on each needle. Join work, taking care not to twist the cast on and begin to knit in 2x2 rib (k2, p2, repeat) Work until the rib measures about 2cm, 1 inch. then knit the rest of the leg as follows

row 1: (k3, yo, k2tog, k3) repeat this 6 times, twice on each needle
row 2: k all stitches

repeat these 2 rows until the leg is the desired length. On a child, this is usually between 10 and 15 cm, 4-6 inches.

2: heel

knit 24 stitches, turn work, slip one stitch and purl to end. complete the heel by repeating the following 2 rows 12 times:

row 1: S1 k to end
row 2: S1 p to end

then turn heel:

row 1: slip 1, knit 12, k2tog, k1 turn
row 2 slip 1, p3, p2tog p1 turn
row 3: slip 1, k4 k2 tog k1 turn
row 4: slip 1, p5 p2tog p1 turn

repeat pattern until there are 14 stitches on the needle

knit 7 stitches onto one needle, knit the other 7 stitches onto a second needle and pick up stitches along the side of the heel flap, 13 along the side of the flap, where stitches have been slipped, and 2 in between slipped stitches and the front needle. knit across front needle in pattern, (k3, yo, k2tog k3) repeat 3 times, and pick up 15 stitches along the other side of the heel flap. knit the first 7 stitches of the heel flap. You should now have 2 needles with 22 stitches and one with 24.

3. Foot

Knit first round of gusset, knit the stitches that have been picked up along the sides of heel flap twisted (knit through back loop)then knit as follows

round 1: knit to last 2 stitches of first needle, k2tog, (k3 yo, k2tog k3)x3 on second needle , ssk then knit to end of third needle
round 2: knit all.

repeat these two rounds until there are 12 stitches left on the first and third needles.

then:
round 1: knit end first needle, k2tog, (k3 yo, k2tog k3)x3 on second needle , knit to end of third needle
round 2: knit all

repeat these 2 rounds until the work measures 3cm from desired length.

4. toe

round 1: knit to 3 stitches from end of first needle, k2tog, k1, k1 ssk knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1, k1 ssk, k to end
round 2. knit all stitches.

repeat these 2 rows until there are 20 stitches left in total.

Kitchener stitch toe and sew in ends.