Ripple Stitch socks

The wonderful thing about knitting socks is the ability to design them yourself. The dozens of ways that the cuff, heel and toe can each be knit combined with thousands of stitch pattern choices means that the possibility of designing a one-of-a-kind pair of socks are pretty darn good!

So here are the details for my Kool-aid dyed yarn and my first attempt at sock designing:

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

Colorway: Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade Kool-aid dyed in a gradated pattern (see Kool-Aid dyed yarn post)

Gauge and needle sizes: I used size 4 needles for the first 4 inches of the cuff and body and size 3 needles for the remainder. My gauge was 7 stitches per inch.

Direction knit: Cuff down.

Cuff pattern: K1,P1 for 1"

Body pattern: Ripple Stitch from Vogue Dictionary of Knitting Stitches by Anne Matthews (1984). The total length of the body (including cuff) is 8".

Heel pattern: The Sherman Heel. The Sherman Heel is a short row pattern but does not use the wrap technique. Instead slip stitches and the techniques of knit and purl encroachment are used. My references for this heel pattern and how to work the stitches are:

A toe up sock pattern by Mary Lycan.
Knit Encroachment (k enc)
Purl Encroachment (p enc)

Foot pattern: The instep/top of foot (1/2 of the total stitches) follows the pattern for the body. The bottom half is stockinette stitch.

Toe pattern: I couldn't find a name for this --it just seems to be the standard pattern for toe decreases when working a sock from the cuff down.

The stitches are distributed as follows:
1/4 of the stitches are on needle #1 (the center back of the heel), 1/2 of the stitches on needle #2 (these stitches are the top of the foot), and the remaining 1/4 on needle #3.

Needle #1: knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1.
Needle #2: k1, ssk, knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1.
Needle #3: k1, ssk, knit to end of needle.
Work an even round.
Alternate decrease rounds and even rounds until 8 stitches remain.

Notes and observations:

It took a couple of swatch samples to select the right pattern for the self-striping effect of the yarn. The stitch pattern was written to be worked flat using two needles but was easily converted for circular knitting.

I decreased the toe down to the recommended 8 stitches but I think I like a wider toe and will try 10.