Matrimonial Harmony Socks

The spousal unit asked me to knit him some socks that he could wear in bed when his feet are cold. He wanted them, thicker, looser and shorter than normal socks. I searched for patterns but didn't see anything I liked until the light bulb went off and I realised that I could just use a generic sock pattern.

I took him to Michael's when they had their yarn sale, picked up some different yarns and told him to pick and told him not to choose the cheapest but the one that felt the nicest. He chose Bernat Alpaca, which is 30% alpaca, 70% nylon, in a dark grey.

I used a generic toe-up sock pattern, adding a 3 x 1 rib on the instep for a bit of stretch. I started with needles 2 sizes smaller than recommended but this produced a stiff material, so I went down just one size to produce a firm but still soft material. After the short row heel I changed to 3 x 1 rib all around for the cuff. When the cuff was the correct length I worked one round of all purl stitches, changed to a size larger needle, and 1 x 3 rib for the turn back of the cuff. This produced a nice turn over for the cuff.

Excuse the poor quality of the photos but my camera has stopped working so I am having to use something more basic.



You can see from the next photo what a difference the bigger needle makes to the size of the cuff.