Winterhouse Socks by Paula Berman

Winterhouse Socks

Knitting
December 2019
Aran (8 wpi) ?
21 stitches = 4 inches
in Stockinette
US 6 - 4.0 mm
219 - 273 yards (200 - 250 m)
Women’s M
English
This pattern is available as a free Ravelry download

Raggi is a worsted weight yarn that is designed for socks - a blend of wool and poly with a reasonable twist that comes in the marked colors of classic old time hiking socks. When I decided it was time to knit up the skeins in my stash, I couldn’t find a pattern that gave me just what I wanted, so I demanded my own.

These are plain, simple socks, but there are a lot of intentional design choices. I prefer knitting my socks toe up for the ease of getting the right width and length. The flap-and-gusset heel is the main reason I created this pattern - I couldn’t seem to find one for a sock that was only 40 stitches around. (Short-row heels are fun to knit, but don’t seem to work as well for my feet - they’re comfortable enough but are too hard to get on!) I used a kfb increase for the gusset instead of the more usual make 1 increase to avoid a hole at the corner, and decided not to use a reinforced heel stitch for fear it might be uncomfortable in a yarn of this large a gauge. I’ve also added a star toe, which seems to conform better to the shape of my own toes!

This is a fairly easy sock pattern, and it’s very quick because of the heavier yarn. You will need to know how to knit, purl, do simples increases and decreases, and use the method of your choice for knitting small cylinders. It’s written to be knit on two circular needles or Magic Loop, where you have one needle each for the sole and arch sides of the sock. I’ve linked to a couple of pages with more detailed informations on the toe and heel techniques I’ve used.