“What makes the desert beautiful,’ said the little prince, ‘is that somewhere it hides a well…”

Inspired by the classic book, knit using the classic Opal yarn. This pattern looks great using self striping or gradient yarns, but also works well using a solid or semi-solid color, or leftovers. Learn a few new techniques while you knit these lace socks: Tubular cast on, Dutch heel and spiral toe decreases with no grafting required. You will also learn how to account for a pattern where the stitch count does not remain constant, and how to center the pattern across the instep stitches. The lace pattern for this sock is not as stretchy as many lace patterns, partly because the stitch count changes rather dramatically.

There are 4 sizes for this pattern, but only two sets of directions. The sizes are determined by your gauge. If you need an even larger sock, use the larger size needle and a heavier fingering weight yarn to get a gauge of 7.5 stitches=1”.

7/6/17
ERRATA NOTES:
Heel flap for 63 stitch cast on:
EOP stitch pattern as written gives you a regular ridged slip stitch heel…i.e. rows 1 and 3 are the same. EOP row 1 should be sl1, k1 as written but EOP row 3 should be sl2, (k1, sl1), ending with k2
For the smaller cast on of 63 stitches, in order to have the BOR end up at the right place to do the centered scallop lace pattern (over 32 stitches), you need to knit across 9 before starting the heel flap setup (k33, decreasing 1 across, then turn and purl back across, slipping the first stitch). If you just knit 33 as written, then you will be off center when you restart the gusset lace pattern.

Thanks to Ashleyk328 for test knitting & fixing these problems. When I can access the pattern document I will edit the PDF and publish an update.

Based on the Fan Shell lace pattern from Barbra Walker’s First Treasury of Knitting Patterns.