Unrelated to Books: Knee High Lace Socks for a Birthday Present
I have a relative big family but as a grew older, I remained close with only a handful of them. One of them is my aunt and her family. They live in the same city as me so I can visit them quite often, even during the pandemic. After Christmas, I started to knit knee high lace socks for a birthday present for her which is in April. I thought that the socks would take me approximately 1 month to do but they gradually became an eternity project for me. With all the school work, and the length and detail of the socks, I finally finished them after three months. Yay!
I originally found this lace sock pattern from Pinterest. It’s from a blog called Kardemumman talo (The House of Cardamom), and the specific post is from the year of 2014. Cardamom (the owner of the blog) has done these socks in different colors and they claim that each color brings out a different aspect from the lace detail. These socks, Elinan pitsiunelmat (Elina’s lace dreams), were hot pink in color but I decided to go for more of a baby pink look.
Creating the stiches and starting the lace pattern:
I started the project by creating 68 stiches which meant that each needle had 17 stiches. I knitted 1 and purled 1 for 15 rounds which makes the ribbing at the top of the sock but as I described in my other knitting related post, I picked up the stich from the loop that’s further away from me, behind the needle. This makes the pattern tighter and neater than the regular ribbing pattern, and is, in my opinion, especially suitable for more delicate lace pieces.
After the ribbing was finished, I started the lace pattern and added 6 more stiches at the first round. Now there’s 74 stiches in total. As you can see from the picture below, the pattern repeats 8 rounds. The rounds 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 are similar at the beginning: knit 3, purl 2, knit 21, and purl 2 until the unique lace pattern on each round. After the lace pattern, purl 2, knit 21 and purl 2. The rounds 4 and 8 create a specific lace pattern to the back of the sock, and they differ from other rounds based on how they start: yarn around needle, slip 1, knit 2 together, lift the previously slipped stich over the ones knitted together, and finally yarn round needle, and continue normally.
Decreasing the calf:
When the back lace pattern has been done 8 times and the front lace 4 times, it’s time to start decreasing the stiches on the calf. At the beginning of the 1. and 5. round knit 3, purl 2, slip 1, knit 1 and lift the slipped stich over the knitted one, and knit 20 (the amount of stiches knitted obviously decreases because of the decreasing of the stiches). Continue the lace pattern normally, and at the end of the 1. and 5. round purl 2, knit 19 (the amount of stiches knitted obviously decreases because of the decreasing of the stiches), knit 2 together, and purl 2. Because of my tight handwriting, I decreased 5 times in total, meaning that I was left with 39 stiches at the back and 25 at the front (the lacing), but you should decrease until it fits your ankle correctly. The decreasing only affects the smooth part of the sock (the sides) and not the lace patterns at the back or front.
Creating the heel and finishing the sock:
I repeated the knitting pattern until I had done the front lace 15 times. After the last 8. round, focus on the 4th and 1st needle and create the heel of the sock. You can find more detailed instructions to that on my other post. I did 14 rounds in total and then picked around 14–16 stiches on both sides. I decreased the amount of stiches at the back to 13 + 14 by knitting the third and second last stich together at the end of the 1st needle and slipped the second stich, knitted the third stich and lifted the slipped stich over the knitted one at the beginning of the 4th needle. The amount of stiches at the front stays the same which is 25.
I repeated the lace pattern at the front 7 times (2nd and 3rd needle) and knitted the rest of the stiches on the back. I was making the socks to fit the EUR size 37/38 (UK 5–5.5, US 7–7.5) and knitted few centimeters normally after the last lace pattern. I decreased by knitting the third and second last stich together at the end of the 1st and 3rd needle, and slipped the second stick, knitted the third stich and lifted the slipped stich over the knitted one at the beginning of the 2nd and 4th needle. I added intermediate rounds between the first two rounds of decreasing but this is just an optional step. Before the decreasing of the tip the full length was around 20–21cm, and after the decreasing the sock was approximately 24cm.
Lastly, I finished the socks by securing the ends and lightly ironing them to make them appear more neat. Remember to place a piece of fabric between the iron and the sock and spray it with water so the sock doesn’t burn by accident. Because the socks were so long, I rolled them and tied them with a decorative blue ribbon. I think they turned out so cute, and I hope my aunt likes them as much as I do!
More detailed instructions for the knee high socks can be found (in Finnish) from The House of Cardamom’s blog: https://kardemummantalo.blogspot.com/2014/03/elinan-pitsiunelmat.html?m=1
