From Knitty, Winter 2011

These socks are slightly caffeinated. Enough to keep you awake, but not enough to make you jittery, just like good java should. The tiny wiggles are fun to knit and the perfect opportunity to practice cabling without a cable needle- only two stitches in each cable and there are tons of them!”

My favorite part about these socks is the patterned gusset. After the stitches are picked up from the heel flap, the gusset stitches are worked in the rib pattern and the decreases consume the instep stitches instead of the gusset stitches. The ribs eventually merge and continue down the foot to the patterned toe. The toe is also different than normal; most of the decreases are made closer to the middle of the toe to allow the pattern on the side of the foot to continue to the last possible moment. Then the last stitches are decreased rapidly for a flat, graft-less toe. The pattern is extremely stretchy with a wide, round heel turn that is comfortable for a range of sizes. Lucky for these socks, the ribbing period coincided with a desire to design men’s socks. I thought to myself, “What’s more classic than a ribbed dress sock? The larger size fits me, a women’s size 8, and my husband, a men’s size 11!

Yardage for women’s size: 250-300 yards (230-275 meters)
Yardage for men’s size: 350-400 yards (320-365 meters)

Errata
Charts: To see the left side charts, click on “men” or “women”, not “left side”. The links are split, so only one part goes to the chart jpg.

Men’s Toe: There should be “work even” rounds on Rounds 22 and 24 of the toe, which aren’t shown on the men’s charts but are in the written instructions.

In the written instructions:
The Men’s Toe should read:
Round 3: K612
Round 11: K8, k2tog, k1, p1, C2B, p1, k1 twice - should be C2F
Round 15: K6, k2tog, k1, p1, C2B, p1, k1 twice - should be C2F
Round 19: K4, k2tog, k1, p1, C2B, p1, k1 twice - should be C2F

Round 21: K2tog, k2 rep to end. 11 sts decreased, 33 sts.
Round 23: K2tog, k1 rep to end. 11 sts decreased, 22sts.
Round 25: K2tog rep to end. 11 sts decreased, 11sts.

Women’s Foot:
Repeat Rounds 1-4 until foot is 1.5 inches shorter than full length of foot.