The Stripe Central Socks are a fun and easy way to jazz up an otherwise-vanilla pair of socks! Not interested in working a boring, repetitive striping pattern on your two-colour knitted socks? Well, these socks use Fibonacci numbers to keep your attention throughout the project… and to help you produce something that’s just that one extra step beyond a typical striped sock!

Pattern Description

These beginner-friendly socks with both cuff-down and toe-up instructions available are worked in shifting-width stripes. Stripes gradually shrink in width until you reach one-round helical stripes around the heel, then after the heel, the opposite colour’s stripes gradually increase in width. They have an afterthought heel that is worked in matching helical stripes for a seamless final look. Optional mini-gusset shaping instructions are also provided, if you require additional room in the heel.

This pattern requires the knitter to be able to knit in stripes on a small circumference in the round (the pattern is method-neutral to suit your preferred technique for socks, and can easily be made with either double-pointed or circular needles; it is also compatible with two-at-a-time sock-knitting techniques). It clearly explains all necessary techniques, as well as providing links to useful video tutorials, and includes helpful stripe-by-stripe checklists in every size!

Yarn Requirements and Sizing

These socks require fingering or light fingering weight sock yarn in two completely-contrasting colours; for average foot lengths and equal leg heights, approximately 150 (170, 190, 210) m / 165 (185, 210, 230) yards are required for each colour.

The pattern provides measurements for row gauges of 42, 44, 46, and 48 rounds in 10 cm / 4 inches, to accommodate a wide range of sock yarns as well as individual tension differences while still getting an accurate fit.

Sizes available: Small (Medium, Large, XL) to fit foot circumferences of approximately 18 (20.5, 23, 25.5) cm / 7 (8, 9, 10) inches; in order to work the full stripe sequence, the minimum finished foot lengths (and leg heights) are:

• 20.5 (21.5, 22.5, 23.5) cm / 8 (8.5, 8.875, 9.25) inches at 48 rounds in 10 cm / 4 inches.
• 21.5 (22.5, 23.5, 24.5) cm / 8.5 (8.875, 9.25, 9.625) inches at 46 rounds in 10 cm / 4 inches.
• 22 (23, 24, 25) cm / 8.625 (9, 9.5, 9.875) inches at 44 rounds in 10 cm / 4 inches.
• 23.5 (24.5, 25.5, 26.5) cm / 9.25 (9.625, 10, 10.5) inches at 42 rounds in 10 cm / 4 inches.

The pattern provides instructions for making the foot lengths/leg heights longer than the minimums above, with precision down to a single round of knitting.

While this pattern is very friendly to many different colourways, from solid to wild, the stripe pattern shows up best if the two yarns used do not overlap at all in colour, and ideally if one is darker and one is lighter. Try pairing a neutral solid colour with all your bright sock yarn leftovers for a fun scrappy-socks look!

These socks are rated 2/5 — Easy — on my sock pattern difficulty scale. This is because they require only basic knitting techniques (knit, purl, increases, decreases, and changing colours for stripes) in order to make them.

Note that two files are available with your purchase: one optimized for working from a device, and one optimized for home printing. You can also order professional-quality full-colour printed versions from Magcloud. All versions include identical and complete toe-up and cuff-down instructions.

This pattern is available on the knitCompanion app! You can get a version prepared specifically for kC compatibility here. #kcdesign