I designed and knit these socks as a gift for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Believe it or not, these socks are the first socks I’ve ever knit for someone else!

These socks are great for hand-painted yarns. The quilted/crystal pattern breaks up the pooling that hand-painted yarns have a tendency to do. The quilted pattern is also simple to work and easy to memorize, with every other row being plain knitting. The pattern is created by slipping stitches with the yarn held in front, in order to create a loose strand across the front of the work which is then lifted up by knitting it together with a stitch in a later row.

These socks were knit with two circular needles, but the pattern is written to be non-needle-specific. The pattern does not tell you how many stitches to put on each needle or have instructions such as “work to the end of Needle 1.” Everybody has their own favorite needles!