Quite a while ago, when I was happily singing away to some Irish traditional songs in our favourite Irish Pub, I was asked whether I was Irish. When I said no, I got the response ‘but Irish at Heart’. Well, it’s true that there are lots of things I love about Ireland, and what better way is there to show it than socks with a heart motif in Irish colours?

The socks come in two sizes, women’s M to fit leg circumference 18.75 cm (7.25”) and L to fit leg circumference 22.5 cm (9”). Leg length results in 21 (22) cm 8.25 (8.5)“ when knit as given in the pattern, adjustable.

The socks are knitted cuff down. They are worked with an afterthought heel and a spiral toe. The reason for the afterthought heel is, that my prototype was done in a self-striping yarn and I chose a heel to not interrupt the stripe sequence. The heel can be replaced with your favourite kind of heel when knit in a solid yarn.

You can choose to work the slipped stitch patterns either from the chart or the written instructions.

Material: 1 skein of fingering weight yarn with a yardage of approximately 400 m (440 yds) per 100 g as main colour plus
0.3 skein (120 m 131 yds) of fingering weight yarn with the same yardage, as contrast colour(s).
Note: When knitted in a solid colourway, you can choose how many different colours you use for the hearts. The material above refers to the socks as shown with stripes in three different colours.
Notions: 2 stitch markers, darning needle, waste yarn.

As an extra, the pattern has a page, called ‘For the adventurous knitter’, with an explanation how this pattern could work when using a self-striping yarn. See the mismatching pair in orange and green as an example. The yarn used in this sample is SpinningFates Tisted Sisters on Toula, which comes in two 50g skeins with reversed colours.

The Irish at Heart pattern is also available as part of the Irish at Heart eBook.