About this Design
This design was inspired by a successful yarn dying session back in the summer months that produced a tonal semi-solid sock yarn in rich shades of light and dark green, aqua, teal and purple-brown. These colours spoke to me of a deep and mysterious undersea world of purple-brown kelp waving sinuously through jewel like aqua-green seascapes, and where mermaids and seals danced to the rhythm of the tides.

I searched through my stitch dictionaries and also online, looking for a stitch pattern that blended the soft curving lines of seaweed with some lightness to reflect the bubbles produced by my dancing seals and mermaids. Eventually I found a stitch pattern with a lovely blend of lace to reflect my need for bubbles, plus some slippery kelpy-looking stitch columns that wind backwards and forwards up the leg. The stitch count also worked well for my foot!

Perfect … except that some stitch pattern gymnastics would be needed to get the pattern to fit well with other foot sizes. I hope I have managed to do this without spoiling the overall oceanic vibe of the design. And of course, like all my other sock patterns, this one is toe-up with a German short-row heel and a nice deep gusset and heel flap.

Size
To fit foot Circumference:
Medium 18 cm/8 in Large 20 cm/9 in Extra Large 23 cm/10 in

Please note that the completed dimensions for the foot circumference will be smaller than the actual foot circumference size. This is because the pattern includes a small amount of negative ease to ensure a snug fit. Please select your size based on your actual foot measurements.

Tension
32 stitches x 48 rows over 10 centimetres (4 inches) in stocking (stockinette) stitch, knitted in the round using 2.25 mm (US size 1, UK size 13) needles. A close match for tension is important for this pattern in order to ensure a good fit. Please move up or down a needle size and swatch one more time if your gauge does not match.

Yarn
305 metres/334 yards of 4-ply/fingering weight sock yarn (approx. 100g).

The stitch pattern in these socks will be beautifully showcased if you select a solid, semi-solid or tonal semi-solid yarn. A multi-dyed yarn or a complex speckled yarn may be too busy to allow the stitch pattern to shine through.

The medium size sample socks were knitted in Bendigo Woollen Mills fine merino sock yarn (80% merino 20% nylon) in a colour that I hand dyed myself using food colouring. Please note that this yarn is quite a lofty sock yarn and therefore has less meterage/yardage per 100g than most other sock yarns (only 305 metres/334 yards) so if you have long and wide feet and you prefer a slightly longer sock, then you may not get a complete pair of socks out of 100g of this particular sock yarn. Other sock yarns with more meterage/yardage per 100g should be just fine.

Needles
A pair of 2.25 mm (US size 1, UK size 13) 61 cm/24 in circular needles. Optional 2.5 mm (US size 1, UK size 12) circular needles for the cuff.

Notions
Tapestry/darning needle.

Pattern
This pattern includes written and charted instructions as well as links to video tutorials (produced by other people) for most of the techniques used in the design.

Technical Editing by Kathie Popadin, www.shakeyourbooties.net

Questions?
Please send all questions to capitalKNITS@icloud.com.