Snuggly, chunky Christmas socks

Last Christmas was my first knitting Christmas, so everyone got scarves. But this year I decided to give myself more of a challenge and make everyone socks despite what I’d heard about them being a pain to knit. I wasn’t completely foolhardy though, I did find some good patterns using big needles and chunky wool, so it didn’t take THAT long to make them. 3 pairs later, I’m a sock convert. Being able to knit such a staple of everyday living makes me feel like I’ll be useful when the oil runs out, or the world ends, or whatever’s going to happen that means we can’t buy socks from the shops anymore. So here’s how they turned out:

David’s socks

David got some short hiking socks made with Patons Shadow Tweed in Grey/Undyed/Charcoal on 4mm dpns using this Chunky Sock pattern by Arlene Williams.

Mum’s socks
Mum got long welly socks made with King Cole Magnum Multi Chunky in Bracken using this Cottage Slipper Socks pattern from Lion Brand (register and log in for free to get the pattern) and 6mm dpns instead of 9mm to make them smaller and tighter knit (my Mum has teeny size 3 feet!).

Dad’s socks
Dad got long welly socks too made from Sidar Click Chunky in Treehouse. His socks were a bit of a hybrid of the above 2 patterns. I used the Chunky Sock pattern on 6mm dpns instead of 4mm, but by the time I got to the heel I realised they were HUGE so did the leg shaping from the Cottage Slipper Socks, then heel and foot from Chunky Sock pattern again. I should have just used the 4mm dpns as the pattern said in the first place, so a lesson learned there!

Lovely red hat

The hat I knitted for my brother was made to a very strict set of specifications. It was to be an exact replica of a white simple ribbed hat he found at my Grandma’s house a few years ago. She had knitted it over 20 years ago and was quite bemused why David would want such a tatty old hat. Anyway, after having worn it almost every day for a good few years, he wanted a dark version of it. So I found a pattern online that was similar – HJS Studio Simple Knit Hat – worked out how to do it exactly like the white one and knitted it in navy blue. It ticked all the boxes.

However, when it came to knitting a hat for my chap Martin, I wanted to make it a bit more interesting to knit, so I found a variation on the rib stitch – the cross stitch rib. It’s made up in exactly the same way as the pattern linked to above, but instead of just using rib stitch all the way through, after about 10 rows of rib, swap to cross stitch rib as follows:

1. (right side) p1, *Tw2R, p1, repeat from * to end of row
2. k1, * p2, k1, repeat from * to end of row

Tw2R = knit into front of 2nd stitch, don’t slip off, come back round and knit into first stitch then slip both off together.