In Aotearoa, the flowering of Pōhutukawa trees means the beginning of summer and Christmastime. School’s out, we’re on the beach, life is good.

The construction of these socks is a bit off the beaten track; you start with a provisional cast-on in the middle of the leg, work upwards towards the cuff, and bind-off. Then you’ll go back and pick up your provisional stitches and work down towards the toe. The Pōhutukawa flowers are not embroidery, but knitted in, using a combination of dip stitches and stranded colourwork. The socks have a heel-flap-and-gusset with a square heel and a modified slip stitch pattern that continues onto the sole of the heel for comfort and durability.

The pattern contains technique illustrations, a ‘how to’ for working this pattern off gauge, dark-on-light and light-on-dark charts (as well as written instructions in the print disability and screen reader friendly file, handy tips and tricks, and there’s even a little something in there for medieval marginalia connoisseurs! There’s a colourful version, a black and white version for printing, and also a print disability and screen reader friendly version. This pattern has been tested and tech edited.

Sizing
Sizes: 1 (2, 3) (4, 5)
Finished Measurements: 15 (17.5, 20) (22.5, 25)cm or 6 (7, 8) (9, 10)” foot circumference.
To Fit: 16 (18.5, 21) (23.5, 26.5)cm or 6¼ (7¼, 8½) (9½, 10½)” foot circumference.

The sample shown is size 3.

Techniques
Stranded colourwork, dip stitches in colourwork (explained with illustrations in pattern), ribbing, increasing and decreasing, picking up stitches, and grafting.

Yarn
250–500m or 270–550 yards of heavy 4ply or heavy fingering weight sock yarn in main colour (this is light grey in the sample)
30m or yards of heavy 4ply or heavy fingering weight sock yarn in contrast colour one for the leaf motif (this is dark green in the sample)
15m or yards each of heavy 4ply or heavy fingering weight sock yarn in contrast colour two for the stamen (this is a reddish orange in the sample) and contrast colour three for the pollen (this is bright yellow in the sample)

The sample is in a handspun, Romney x Corriedale (95%) and Gotland (5%), heavy fingering weight (18 wraps per inch), yarn, made with 3 plies.

Gauge
32 stitches x 44 rounds = 10cm or 4” in stockinette stitch after blocking. This should form a dense fabric to make more durable socks.

Needles
2.25mm (US 1) needles in your favourite sock knitting needle configuration, or size needed to get gauge. You may need a different needle size to get gauge in colourwork.

Accessibility Statement
This pattern has a print disability and screen reader friendly version. That version has 24pt Verdana font, no italics are used, with both written instructions and charts. The charts are in black and white and dark green. The charts are still fully understandable in greyscale. All information in the charts in conveyed in the written instructions in the print disability and screen reader friendly version, so the pattern can be made without reference to charts. The pattern contains images; all of which have alt text and captions. Abbreviations and symbols have been removed from the pattern. Due to my own disability, I am not able to test this pattern with a screen reader beyond the word ‘read aloud’ function. If you use a screen reader with this pattern, I’d love to hear how it goes.

Pricing
Patterns take a lot of time, effort, and money to create and I really appreciate your support! Having said that, this pattern is a pay what you can pattern. If things are tough at the moment, feel free to use this code to adjust the price of this pattern.
To get the pattern for half price, use the code Pay50%.