The Shandwick Stone is a tall and intricately carved Pictish cross-slab which stands in a field overlooking the sea. It is part of the Tarbat Peninsula Pictish Trail, which I am lucky enough to live fairly close to. The fantastic spiral patterns on the Stone were my inspiration for these socks. You can find more details about the stone at https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/balintore/shandwickstone/index.html

Method:
These stranded colorwork socks are knit in the round from the cuff down. With twisted cable ribbing, an Eye of Partridge heel flap, and gusset decreases placed on the sole, they can be worked in two or more contrasting colors.

They can be knitted on dpns, by magic loop, or on a short circular (in which case you will still need dpns for the heel and toe decreases).

Please note the colorwork design in this pattern is charted not written out. You need to be prepared to read and work from charts in order to enjoy knitting this design.

Sizes:
This pattern is written in 3 sizes. All instructions that differ depending on the size you are knitting are color coded and indicated with parentheses like this: S (M, L).

Size - Sock Circumference - Approx. UK Sizes
S - 7” (18 cm) - Children’s 13-4, Ladies 1-4
M - 8” (20.5 cm) - Ladies 5-8
L - 9” (23 cm) - Men’s 8.5-10.5

Yarn:
You can use any 4 ply (fingering) sock yarn that you like and with which you can get tension/ gauge.

Please note I do not recommend using yarns with a high cotton content as cotton doesn’t stretch as much as other fibers and this will affect the fit of your socks.

The charted pattern in this sock works well with a solid and a contrasting long gradient yarn (as in the pair pictured), or you could use two contrasting solid colors. Be creative, have fun, but keep in mind changes will affect yardage and number of ends to weave in. The amounts of each color required will depend on how many colors you pick, where you choose to use them in the sock, and which size you are knitting. As a guide for the socks pictured (size M in two colors) I used the following quantities:

MC – Schoppel Wolle Zauberball Crazy 1660 Flussbett approx. 225 metres (246 yards)
CC – Novita Venla 10 Off White approx. 115 metres (126 yards)