This sock design will be exclusive to the 2015 Crazy Train event starting January 1, 2015 by the Canadian Crazy Train group on Ravelry until the competition is over; after that, it will be available for sale in my Ravelry store (in March 2015).

Don’t tell my husband (who worked for CN for many years) but the very first person I thought about when I heard about the theme for this event was my mum. Riding a train through the Canadian Rockies was at the top of her travel bucket list for at least 20 years and in 2012, she finally got the chance to do it. She continues to look back at that trip as one of her favourites and since she’s celebrating a milestone birthday this year, I thought that this design would be a great way to commemorate her trip. Who knows, maybe it will inspire one or two of the KAL participants to hop on board!

The sock is worked cuff-down and utilises three different colourwork techniques : stranded, intarsia and a combination of intarsia and stranded. On top of that, I’ve added some twisted stitches to create a part of the design.

I recommend the use of solid yarns in two separate and contrasting colourways, and knitting the stranded sections using a needle that is one size larger than your “go-to” size. The pattern is written for Magic Loop, however can be easily adapted to double-pointed needles.

Good luck to all the Crazy Train participants - this is going to be sooo much fun!