I also referred to another printed patten I had called simply Hiking Socks, designed for magic loop, which I use almost exclusively. Have no idea who the designer is, has some errors, but it made interpreting the other pattern easier.

I CO with a size 7 needle, but switched to size 6. I did 1 x 1 rib for 12 rounds/2”. On the first SS round, I changed to size 5 needles, decreased by 2 stitches, then decreased 2 again at round 6, 16 (4”). These will be for Carol. She tried on the half sock &bit fit!

3/27/25 afternoon - I tried the sock on because I was concerned about sizing. I brought it up to my thigh where it measures 14.5” & sure enough the 52 CO was stretched pretty tight. Starting over with 54 CO. Decreased 2 stitches on rounds 1, 10, 15, 20 & 25 of SS (44). Six inches from CO = ribbing plus 28 rounds of SS.

I did 26 rows for the heel flap (S1, K1, RS; S1, P WS) & attached the reinforcement thread for the heel turn.

I picked up & knit 15 stitches from each side (in hindsight, too many), added one stitch to the heel stitches so I had 42 stitches on the heel needle & 22 on the instep needle. Alternate decrease & even rounds until I had 44 stitches left.

4/1/25 - Couldn’t stand it. After getting the second sock almost done, I decided to rip back to the gusset & pick up just 13 stitches each side, like I should have done to begin with. Almost an entire day’s worth of wasted knitting.

Because I cannot try these on the recipient, I added arch support in the form of 1 x 1 rib. I started the ribbing immediately after the last round 2 of gusset decreases & did 18 rounds before going back to SS for 12 rounds.