Mermish Folk Socks

Inspired once again by the Harry Potter books, by J.K. Rowling, I tried at my hand at designing / creating my own socks. Not that Mer people (folks) would wear socks...

I tried several Open and Closed Shell patterns in swatches, none of which "flowed" as I liked. I chose the pattern SHELL LACE RIB, it reminds me of fish scales, waves and light patterns on the water surface. This pattern can be found in many stitch pattern books and in no way is my own. However I did tweak the stitches on the needles while knitting so the pattern centered up the leg.

I did realize a mistake too late, as the picture shows. I did not slip two stitches to the proper needle during the gusset shaping and have four stitches on one side instead of two on either side leading to the instep / foot. OOPS! I bound off marked the error and intend to begin the other sock and then complete the pair.

The pattern may be knit either top down or toe up and follows a basic sock recipe. If you knit the pattern toe up your SHELL LACE RIB will be upside down, but that may add extra interest that I had not previously thought about when first trying this out.

Materials:
YARN: Knit Picks Esstential Fingering Weight in MERMAID
SIZE: 2(US) and 3(US) DPNs
Place Marker
Gauge: sts x 12 rows = 1"

Abbrv:

K - Knit
sl - slip
sts - stitches / stitch
RS - Right Side
WS - Wrong Side

TOP DOWN INSTRUCTIONS

NOTES: The first two stitches on needle one (N1) begin and end the round. Needle 4 holds the final stitches of the pattern (K1, psso) before the KNIT round begins, keeping the pattern even and centered.

I knit kind of upside down and backwards, please see the picture indicating needle numbers. I knit to the left beginning with the needle closest to me (N1) when knitting in the round.

CO: 56 Sts
Divide the stitches on to four Size 2(US) dpns as follows:
N1: 16 sts.
N2: 14 sts
N3: 14 sts
N4: 12 sts

Place Marker to denote beginning of round
Work in 1 x 1 ribbing for 1" (12 rounds)

Switch to size 3(US) Needles. I found using the larger needle helps keep the pattern from stretching and distorting too much when worn.

Round 1:
N1: K2, *K2tog, K2, yo, K1, yo, K5, sl1, K1, psso, K2*
N2 and N3: repeat from * to *
N4: K2tog, K2, yo, K1, yo, K5, sl1, K1, psso

Round 2 - KNIT

Round 3:
N1: K2, *K2tog, K1, yo, K3, yo, K4, sl1, K1, psso, K2*
N2 and N3: repeat from * to *
N4: K2tog, K1, yo, K3, yo, K4, sl1, K1, psso

Round 4 - KNIT

Round 5:
N1: K2, *K2tog, yo, K5, yo, K3, sl1, K1, psso, K2*
N2 and N3: repeat from * to *
N4: K2tog, yo, K5, yo, K3, sl1, K1, psso

Round 6 - KNIT

Round 7:
N1: K2, *K2tog, K5, yo, K1, yo, K2, sl1, K1, psso, K2*
N2 and N3: repeat from * to *
N4: K2tog, K5, yo, K1, yo, K2, sl1, K1, psso

Round 8 - KNIT

Round 9:
N1: K2, *K2tog, K4, yo, K3, yo, K1, sl1, K1, psso, K2*
N2 and N3: repeat from * to *
N4: K2tog, K4, yo, K3, yo, K1, sl1, K1, psso

Round 10 - KNIT

Round 11:
N1: K2, *K2tog, K3, yo, K5, yo, sl1, K1, psso, K2*
N2 and N3: repeat from * to *
N4: K2tog, K3, yo, K5, yo, sl1, K1, psso

Round 12 - KNIT

Repeat these 12 rows for pattern. Work the pattern for 48 rounds or 12 rows 4 times, ending with a KNIT row.

HEEL FLAP

The heel flap is worked across N1 and N4. On the last round of the leg, Knit the first two stitches from N1 to N4 (14 sts on each needle) for 28 sts.

Switch to size 2 (US) dpns

Work the heel in your favorite heel stitch. I used stockinette with out the slipping and psso of a traditional heel.

Work across N1, Turn, Slip the first st and purl across to the end. Turn, Slip the first stitch and knit across to the end, turn. Continue to Slip the first stitch of each row until 28 rows have been worked. (14 slipped stitches on either side of heel flap)

TURN THE HEEL
SLIP all sts Purl Wise
RS
Row 1: K16, K2tog, K1, Turn Leave the remaining sts. on N1.
Row 2: Sl1, P5, P2tog, P1, Turn
Row 3: Sl1, K6, K2tog, K1, Turn
Row 4: Sl1, P7, P2tog, P1, Turn
Row 5: Sl1, K8, K2tog, K1, Turn
Row 6: Sl1, P9, P2tog, P1, Turn

Continue in this manner, working RS until the last st on N4, Knit that stitch and the first st on N1 together then knit one more st from N1, Turn the piece and work the WS until the last three sts on N4, purl two together and then Purl the last st. Work back and forth RS / WS until all 28 sts have been worked and 16 sts remain on N4.

GUSSET:

Begin working in the round again.
With a free needle, pick up and Knit 14 sts along the side of heel flap (N1).
Knit across the 28 instep st in the SHELL LACE RIB pattern on N2 and N3.
Pick up and Knit 14 sts from the other side of the heel flap and knit 8 sts from N4.
All five (5) needles hold stitches.
Slip the last 8 sts from the odd needle to N1. There should be 22 Sts on N1 and N4. 72 sts in total.
Place marker to note beginning of round.

DECREASE ROUNDS:

ROUND 1
N1: Knit to the last three sts on N1, K2tog, K1
Follow the SHELL LACE RIB pattern for N2 and N3
N4: K1, ssk, Knit to end of round.

ROUND 2 - KNIT

Work in rounds, maintaining the SHELL LACE RIB pattern on the instep (N2 and N3), repeat Rounds 1 and 2 until 14 sts remain in N1 and N4 or there are 56 sts total.

FOOT

Work in rounds, maintaining the SHELL LACE RIB pattern for the instep (N2 and N3), work in Stockinette st on N1 and N4 until the foot measures about 2" shorter than your desired length. Be sure to end the instep pattern with a Knit row.

TOE

This is your basic pointy sock toe, if you have another way to create the toe, please feel free to use whatever method you are most comfortable with. Sock toes are not written in stone.

DECREASE ROUNDS:

ROUND 1:
N1: Knit to last three stitches, K2tog, K1
N2: K1, ssk, knit to end
N3: Knit to last three stitches, K2tog, K1
N4: K1, ssk, Knit to end of round

Round 2 - KNIT

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until 7 sts remain in each needle. Repeat Round 1 ONLY until 4 sts remain in each needle.
Knit four sts from N1 to N4 and Slip four sts from N3 to N2.
16 sts remain. Use a tapestry needle to Kitchener Stitch the toe closed.

Follow the blocking and washing instructions that are best for the yarn you chose.

Slip on your foot. AHHH nice!