Beaded Eyelet Rib Socks

I love these socks. They came out better than I envisioned (and that doesn't happen often!) and they look and fit fantastic.

I dyed the yarn with wine colored Rit dye and tried to achieve a Faux Ikat (see previous blog entry). I mismanaged the timing of the dye bath and the result was yarn that was basically a solid color. There were a few small light areas which gave a slight heather effect in the stockinette stitch of the sock foot but doesn't show at all in the eyelet pattern of the sock body.

Yarn: Fingering weight superwash merino/tencel blend from Mind's Eye Yarns

Colorway:Rit Liquid Dye - Wine

Gauge and needle sizes: I used size 3 needles for the cuff and 7 pattern repeats for the body and size 2 needles for the remainder. My gauge was 8 stitches per inch on #2 needles.

Direction knit: Cuff down.

Cuff pattern: P2, k2, p1, K2 for 1"

Body pattern:

Slip bead: Move yarn to the front (as if to purl) and slip bead down, slip next stitch purlwise and move yarn to the back.

Stitch pattern in multiples of 7
Row 1: *P2, k2 tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk; repeat from * to end of row.
Row 2: *P2, k5; repeat from * to end of row.
Row 3: *P2, k2, slip bead, k2; repeat from * to end of row.
Row 4: *P2, k5; repeat from * to end of row.

The total length of the body (including cuff) is 8" ending with row 4.

Heel pattern: The Sherman Heel (see Ripple Stitch socks for details.)

Foot pattern: The foot was knit in stockinette st.

Toe pattern: The Round Toe from the book Folk Socks by Nancy Bush.

Notes:

The cuff could also a pattern of K5, P2

The standard way to do a ssk is: slip 2 stitches as if to knit then k2 tog through the back loops. An alternate way to work the ssk is to slip 1 knitwise, slip 1 purlwise then k2 tog through the back loops. The claim is that the alternate way lays flatter. For this sock I worked the standard ssk and the way the stitch lay didn't strike me as an issue, but it's something to keep in mind for future patterns.