My Father-in-law and my husband are both named Joe, and to tell them apart the kids started calling them “Our Joe” and “Old Joe”. They have a lot in common besides their names, and a love of simple but elegant handknit socks tops the list. These socks were Old Joe’s Christmas present. He loved them, and I loved knitting them. The pattern is simple, absolutely unisex and easy to memorize, making them awesome travel knitting socks. If you’re the type, these can be easily up, or downsized by changing the number of knit stitches between the motif columns, although the sizes given here should fit most human adults.

If you need an XL, I suggest knitting the large, but trying a yarn like Socks That Rock Mediumweight, and going up a needle size from your usual. The yarn is a little heavier than regular fingering weight, and you can get a bigger sock without sacrificing durability.