A few years ago a knitting group friend (hereafter referred to as Madame X) was making a design which prominently featured dropped stitches. She passed the pattern (note, the pattern, not her knitting) around the circle. When it reached me, I glanced at the lead picture and rather artlessy -- and loudly -- commented that the dropped stitches looked like stretch marks. Utter silence. Then, of course, riotous laughter followed.

That foot-in-mouth incident has given my friends and I a lot of laughter as the story is told over and over again. I designed these socks to memorialize the gaffe that’s become part of our group’s history and to humbly apologize for coming anywhere close to criticizing Madame X’s stitchery.

The socks feature staggered columns of dropped stitches and come in four sizes. The dropped stitch sections begin and end with a simple cable to keep the stretch mark effect somewhat under control. The instep pattern wraps slightly around the foot and the toe shaping is worked in 2 phases to resolve all the ribbed columns naturally at the center. A left and right version are provided to assure comfort around the toes.