A top-down sock which makes full use of a simple and supremely addictive knitting technique - helical stripes. All the fun of stripes and no jogs! With hues inspired by Edinburgh and London, knit your way from North to South through a soothing, continuous helix of colour.

This pattern is perfect if you want to do a stripy sock for the first time and don’t know where to start, or if you’ve never quite been able to get your head around helical stripes. Or it’ll also suit if you’re a more experienced knitter and want to follow a fun pattern with a new-to-you technique.

YARN:
50g/200m each of the main colour and the contrast colour in fingering weight sock yarn. Sample socks use Travelknitter BFL Supersock in Electric Junkyard and Hogmanay.

NEEDLES AND NOTIONS:
5 x 2mm (US size 0) double-pointed needles (or needles required to get gauge)
Stitch marker
Tapestry needle

GAUGE AND SIZING:
Gauge = 9 stitches and 12 rows per inch (36st/48 rows = 4 inches/10cm) over stocking stitch using 2mm needles. Your gauge might vary – please do a gauge swatch to be sure.
Leg length and foot length are fully adjustable within this pattern.
Pattern shows instructions for small (medium, large) socks.

• Small = 20.5cm/8 inches around largest foot circumference
• Medium = 23cm/9 inches around largest foot circumference
• Large = 25.5cm/10 inches around largest foot circumference

NOTES:
The pattern includes full, easy to follow instructions on how to knit helical stripes on double-pointed needles - including where and how to position the heel and gusset decreases without interrupting the flow of the stripes.

I really recommend using DPNs if you’re doing helical stripes for the first time - it’s the easiest way to pick up the technique. You can also do them using magic loop or two circs if you’re feeling confident, but please note that this pattern only gives specific instructions for DPNs.

Instructions are included for both a standard decrease toe AND a short-row toe so you can pick your preferred option (part of my mission to convert people to short-row toes - they’re not only for toe-up socks!).

Handy sock-knitting tips are interspersed all the way throughout the pattern - to ease you past any fiddly bits, and for me to share some of my best sock-knitting know-how.

For more information, see:
https://felinityknits.wordpress.com/2018/05/12/pattern-arthur-to-ben-socks/