Socks for Mary Shelley by Belinda Barbagallo

Socks for Mary Shelley

Knitting
January 2021
Fingering (14 wpi) ?
32 stitches and 46 rows = 4 inches
in Stockinette Stitch
US 1 - 2.25 mm
300 - 450 yards (274 - 411 m)
Size 1: 7.5-8" Size 2: 8.5-9"
English
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Socks for Mary Shelley were designed in honor of the English gothic novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Her best-known novel, Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, is far more than a horror story, it is a social commentary on the beauty and power of science. This story reminds us that just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. Keeping with Mary’s romantic, yet tragic story, these socks are designed to be beautiful and a bit dark. At first look you see dainty cuff details and romantic lace rib, but if you look closer you see hints of vertebrae in the lace patterning, a nod to Mary’s soulful and misunderstood monster.

Size 1: 6.5” finished, to fit 7.5-8”
Size 2: 7.5” finished, to fit 8.5-9”

Construction Notes:
Socks for Mary Shelley are knit cuff down beginning with a picot edge, lace boarder and a twisted rib cuff. The leg and top of the foot are knit in a lace rib pattern, note that there are separate instructions (written and charted) for each size. The heel is constructed using a reinforced heel flap and gusset and the sock is finished with a rounded toe. The top of the cuff must be folded over and whip stitched in place to achieve the final picot boarder of the sock. The pattern is written for magic loop and all lace repeats are written out and charted.

Required Skills:
Magic loop, simple lace (written and charted), increases, decreases, Kitchener stitch grafting, whip stitch