Thursday 15 December 2016

Fibonacci Socks Pattern

I finished these short-legged, squooshy lounge socks a while ago and put the pattern details on my Ravelry 'Midnight Fibonacci Socks' project. 'Midnight', because of the sparkly dark blue yarn, and because I tend to still be knitting at midnight. The pattern of knit and purl rings on the leg, and in fact the rib sequence, was Fibonacci inspired, although there are also elements of perfect numbers, repeats and mirrors. Then I got a bit busy packing, moving house and so on, and forgot to test the pattern out a bit by making another pair, checking and writing out the instructions here. So now I've caught up with that, please feel free to try these out and let me know how they go.

Both pairs pictured were made in Alpine Spark, which is theoretically DK, but it’s quite thick, more like worsted weight, so the result is roomy even on my very wide feet. With the same number of stitches, smaller needles and a lighter DK yarn, they would probably fit an average-width foot.

These are knitted cuff-down, using a set of 4 x 4mm dpns.

Cast on 48 sts; I have the 24 heel/sole stitches on needle 1, with 12 stitches each on needles 2 and 3.
12 rounds knit and purl rib in the following pattern:
K1, P2, K3, P1, K2, P3 (repeated 4 times)

Fibonacci sequence leg (38 rows in total):
8 rounds purl
5 rounds knit
3 rounds purl
2 rounds knit
1 round purl
1 round knit
2 rounds purl
3 rounds knit
5 rounds purl
8 rounds knit

Priscilla Wild’s short row, no wraps heel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu5YAKsAEpY
has a nice, clear demonstration by Charisa Martin Cairn.
Note, I don’t know whether it’s the way I do K2tog, but I find I get a neater finish by doing SSK followed by the M1L on the knit side, although the purl side is always neat with P2tog and M1L which is then purled.
Naturally, you can substitute your favourite way of doing a heel. 

40 rounds stocking stitch foot (for my size 6/39, although obviously, this changes depending on foot length).

Toe decreases:
Next round (R1), decrease by 4 stitches in total, 2 at each side of the toes as follows:
Needle 1 (sole); SSK, knit to last 2 sts, K2tog
Needle 2; SSK then knit remainder of stitches on needle
Needle 3; knit to the last 2 sts, K2tog.

R2 knit all the way around.

Repeat R1 and R2 three more times (= 32 sts).

Then repeat R1 decreases on every row for the next 6 rows, leaving 8 sts in total.
Cut the yarn and either Kitchener graft the stitches together (which is what I do), or thread the yarn through the stitches to gather the toe. And then do the other sock.

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