Are there buy buttons on the side of the page? If so, you've caught this pattern on one of the handful of days every year when it's available! If not, read on for details of where it went and what to do if you want to be notified the next time it's available.

A few years ago I got overwhelmed by my back catalog, retired most of my earlier work, and launched Tiny Nonsense. That gave me space to make Cool New Stuff! But some people missed the earlier things, so I make many of the retired patterns available for a few days once or twice a year.

• If you see the buy buttons on this page, you’ve caught it on one of the days it’s available! You can buy it just like usual.

• If you don’t see the buy buttons on this page, then it’s not currently available. It will probably be available the week after Thanksgiving and for a few days in June or July.

• If you want to hear when the retired patterns come back, subscribe to the mailing list or patreon, or keep an eye on my instagram.

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I hear again and again that you folks really love basic socks…but basic socks with just enough of a twist to keep things interesting. If that’s what you want in a sock, I think these might be exactly what you’re looking for!

The majority of this sock is lovely, meditative stockinette. But, to keep things interesting, there’s a perfect little mirrored cable panel running down the outside of your foot and the inside of your heel. There are two variations of the panel, one that carries the cabling through the whole sock (that’s the blue one), and one that is a bit more restrained (that’s the purple one), and both versions are included in the pattern.

They’re both great fun to knit (the cable really is clever…and I suspect they’d pass muster even with those who insist on more mellow socks). And the end result is so amazingly tidy you can’t help but be pleased!

They’re written in four sizes (56, 64, 72, and 80 stitch cast on) and you should feel free to adjust your gauge a bit to fine tune the fit of the sock. Just be sure that you’re working at a gauge that gives you a sturdy sock fabric with your chosen yarn!

I recommend working at something around 7, 8, or 9 stitches per inch, and I’ve included a table to help you figure out what gauge you’ll want to use for the size you need. With that range of sizes and gauges, the socks will fit a foot (measured around the ball of the foot) between 6.75 and 12.5 inches (with lots of points in between).

These are perfect for you if:

• You secretly love a plain sock…but not too plain
• You love that tidy little cable

They’re not for you if:

• You don’t like charts (the pattern uses charts)
• You hate swatching (you need to swatch to check your needle size)