For the third pattern of the Garden Party Collection we are going to use a lovely group of mini’s. When I designed this pattern and rotated through the different color mini’s, I thought of how layers of berries and cake and cream come together in a trifle. Each layer is separate, but magically blends together as a dessert for both your eyes and taste buds.

For this design, we have two sets of alternating patterns. The first pattern is a form of ribbing which serves as the background for our design. The second pattern expands upon the ribbing and incorporates a diamond shape with a seed stitch center. How you arrange the alternating patterns, and the colors that you use are up to you.

In the sample, I had 4 colors and worked them as such:

1. Toe and Heel (Main color)
2. Background ribbing (Main color)
3. Diamond pattern (rotated through colors 2, 3, 4)

I repeated steps 2 and 3 until the sock leg was within 2 inches of my finished leg length. At that point, I worked the background ribbing by rotating through the colors and then bound off at the desired length.

I believe hand knit socks should be accessible to as many people as possible and devised a new “sock width size” for all of my sock patterns. My patterns will fit adults with the following measurements:

Sock Width Size: 1 to 10
Foot sizes: US/Canadian Women’s 2 ½ to Men’s 15 ½
Foot width: ranges from Narrow to Extra Wide
Foot circumference: 7 ½ to 12 inches (19 to 30.5 cm)
Foot length to back of heel: 8 to 12 ½ inches (20.5 to 31.5 cm)
Leg length from base of heel: 7 inches (18 cm)

How to determine your sock width size only requires a tape measure and answering a few questions. Once you know your size, you can proceed to the pattern. If you are knitting for someone else and do not have their size, I have a reference to many standard knitted sock sizes too. There is also a section discussing how to make ankle adjustments when needed.

As this pattern uses mini’s (20 grams each), only the total yarn required is included. However, if you want to ensure you have enough yarn for both socks in your desired color rotation, and/or you are making a larger size, you may need more than 20 grams of specific colors.

The sock is constructed from the toe up with a short row heel.

Both charted and written instructions are provided for the design.

I hope you enjoy this pattern and cannot wait to see what type of layered desserts you make.

Happy knitting everyone.