** This pattern was part of my Icelandic Yarn Club 4 and is now available as a single pattern PDF.**

The Vífilsfell socks were born from a hike on the mountain of the same name. It is a beautiful mountain with recognisable sandstones carved by the wind in striking spiralling stripes. But there is so much more to it: read about our Vífilsfell adventure written by Amy Foster and follow the journaling of my my inspiration. It involves witches’ tears, stripes induced migraines, a magical spider, invasive lupine, the color of deep space and the beginning of a friendship.
Because you always have to go up and down a mountain, one sock is knitted from the toe up and the other one from the cuff down. Both are decorated with a diagonal rib motif spiralling in opposite directions.
Under the ribbed cuff is a spider lace motif, very common in Icelandic lace shawls, that gives more elasticity around the largest part of the leg.
The socks have an afterthought heel and a round toe shaped with evenly spaced decreases. The heel is decorated with a lupina flower inspired motif in stranded knitting - which could as well read as a magical rune – and the toe is adorned with a star. The colorwork has also a practical aim: it reinforces the heel and absorbs the shocks when hiking, and it will keep your toes toasty.
Because there is a huge difference in gauge between the spiral rib and the colorwork, the heel stitches need to be increased before the heel can be worked, whereas the gauge difference acts as an integral part of the toe shaping.
The colors of the socks are hand dyed. The main yellowish color, reminiscent of the Vífilsfell sandstones, is plant dyed with Icelandic lupine leaves and reindeer lichen. The later doesn’t really give any color but it fixes the dye which is why it was widely used in Iceland in the old days. The deep blue-purple, a color that unsurprisingly can’t be obtained from Icelandic nature, was achieved by using a combination of acid dyes.
I’m especially fond of these socks because every stitch tells a story that’s meaningful to me. And, as you knit these up, you become part of the story too.

Sizes: 1(2) to fit shoe size 36-38 (40-42) EU
You can achieve more sizes by changing needle size and adjust the length by adding or withdrawing rnds.

Finished measurements
Foot circumference: approx. 16(18) cm / 6.25 (7)” unstretched and can be stretched up to 25 cm / 10”.
Foot length unstretched: 22 cm / 8.75”. It is very stretchable and will adapt itself to the foot.

Gauge: 10 cm /4” = 26 sts and 32 rows in Stocking st on 2.5 mm / US 1½ needle

Yarn: Katla Sokkaband by Hélène Magnússon: pure new Icelandic lambswool with a dash of silk (1%), DK/sport weight sock yarn, 4 ply, non superwash, 100g skein = 220 m/ 240 yds: 1 skein each
Yardage used:
MC: 94(106) m / 103(116) yads
CC: 8(9) m / 9(10) yds

The socks in the pictures are a size 1 and the leg is slightly longer than what the pattern says. Sylvia uses the shoe size EU 39 and has a fine foot.

Needle: 2.5 mm / US 1½ circular needle suitable for magic loop. You can also use double-pointed needles or any method to knit small diameters in the rnd. Adjust needle size as necessary to obtain correct gauge.

Notions: stitch marker, darning needle, sock blocker