Christmas Romance Socks
Cécile Lebbe
With two of my knitting friends, it’s been our tradition since a few years to knit together the same
Christmas socks.
And, as during winter I love to watch Christmas movies, where you can tell what will happen from the
very first five minutes (Samantha, busy careerist marketing manager, goes to her small hometown for a
few days, and will fall under the spell of John, widower and father of a charming little girl, handyman for
the whole town in his spare time), I wanted to design those cheesy Christmas socks.
I hate weaving ends, so I always try to avoid cutting my yarn when I’m knitting contrasting ribbing, heel,
and toes. Therefore, the contrasting color yarn won’t be cut until the end of the heel. You will only have
to catch the contrasting thread with the main color when you don’t use it.
Yarn
C1: Filcolana Arwetta color 139 deep red (80%
Merinos – 20% nylon - 210m/50g) 1 skein of 50g
C2: Filcolana Arwetta color 977 marzipan (80%
Merinos – 20% nylon - 210m/50g) 1 skein of 50g
Gauge
34 stiches et 42 rounds / 10cm in stockinette
stitch knitted in the round.
Needles
2,5mm (US1 ½) long circular needle or any other
size to meet the gauge.
Abbreviations
C1: main color (red in the colorwork chart)
C2: contrasting color (white in the colorwork chart)
Sts: stitches
k: knit
p: purl
ktbl: knit through the back loop
k2tog: knit 2 stitches together
p2tog: purl 2 stitches together
ssk: slip 2 stitches (one at a time) as if to knit, insert your left needle into these stitches, and knit them
together through the back loop
Sl1: slip 1 stitch purlwise (unless specifically indicated to slip knitwise)
PM: place marker
RS: Right side
WS: Wrong side
Cast on and ribbing:
Cast on 64 sts with C2 using German twisted cast on technique, place a marker (M1) for beginning of
row, and join in the round.
Work 1x1 ribbing for 14 rows as follow: *ktbl, p1*
Don’t cut your C2 strand. You will catch it with C1 after the first row of the colorwork diagram to avoid
too many ends to weave in once you finished your socks.
Cuff:
Join C1 and start to knit the colorwork diagram (the diagram is knitted twice: for the front and the back
of your cuff)
Once you finished row 32 of the diagram, don’t cut C2. Just catch it when you start the last row of the
diagram, so that you can use it for the heel.
32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
34 34
33 33
32 32
31 31
30 30
29 29
28 28
27 27
26 26
25 25
24 24
23 23
22 22
21 21
20 20
19 19
18 18
17 17
16 16
15 15
14 14
13 13
12 12
11 11
10 10
9 9
8 8
7 7
6 6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Heel:
knit 32 sts with C1 and put them on hold.
From now on, the heel will be knitting back and forth.
For the next 32 sts (heel), we will start to knit with C1, and will then continue with C2 which is waiting
for us at the end of the row!
Heel flap:
Row 1 (Right Side): With C1, slip the first stitch as if to knit, then *k1, sl1*. Let C1 aside without cutting
it.
Row 2 (Wrong side) with C2: sl1, purl until end of row.
We’ll now continue with C2.
Row 3 (RS): Sl1 knitwise, p1, *Sl1, k1* until the end of row
Row 4 (WS): Sl1, purl until the end of the row.
Repeat row 3 and 4 fourteen times more. You will then have 16 edge stitches to pick up your stitches
after the heel turn.
Heel turn:
We will now make a series of short rows to turn the heel.
Row 1 (RS): sl1, k18, SSK, k1, turn work.
Row 2 (WS): Sl1, p7, p2tog, p1, turn work.
Row 3 (RS): sl1, knit to 1 st before the gap, ssk, k1, turn work.
Row 4 (WS): sl1, purl to 1 st before the gap, P2tog, p1, turn
work.
Repeat rows 3 and 4 until all stitches have been worked,
finishing with a wrong side row with 20 sts.
Knit across those 20 sts.
Gusset:
We will now make the gusset by picking up stitches along each side of the heel flap, and then resuming
knitting in the round with decreases every 2 rows until we have back the 64 stitches from the beginning.
In magic loop, I recommend having on the first needle, the 20 sts from the heel and the first series of
picked up stitches, and, on the second needle, the stiches of the top of the foot, and the second series of
picked up stitches:
Row 1:
Needle 1: With C2, pick up 16 sts along the edge of heel flap. Pick up one more between heel flap and
the top of the foot to avoid a hole once finished. Cut C2 and take back your strand of C1.
Needle 2: PM1, transfer the 32 sts on hold back on the needle and knit them with C1. Pick up one stitch
between the top on the foot and the heel flap and pick up 16 sts in the edge stiches of the heel flap.
Row 2:
Needle 1: k20 (heel stitches), k14tbl, k2tog, k1tbl.
Needle 2: Slip M1, k32 (top of the foot), place a marker (M2), k1tbl, SSK, k14tbl.
Row 3:
Needle 1: knit all the sts
Needle 2: Slip M1, knit all the sts, slipping M2 when you come to it.
Row 4:
Needle 1: knit to 3 sts before the end, k2tog, k1.
Needle 2: Slip M1, knit to M2, Slip M2, k1, SSK, knit all the sts.
Repeat rows 3 and 4 until you have 64 sts.
Knit to M1. Place 32 sts on each needle and remove M2.
Foot:
We will now knit in stockinette until the desired foot length. Usually, to have the right length, I knit until
I reach the base of my big toe.
We will now have 32 sts for the top of the foot on needle 1, and 32 sts for the bottom of the foot on
needle 2.
Knit in the round in stockinette stitch on both needles until the desired length. Cut C1.
Toe
We will now knit the toe with C2, decreasing on each side of each needle every 2 rows.
Setup Row:
Join C2 and knit all sts (needle 1 and 2)
Decreases
Row 1:
Needle: k1, SSK, knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1.
Needle 2: same as needle 1
Row 2:
Needle 1: knit all the sts.
Needle 2: knit all the sts.
Repeat those 2 rows until you have 12 sts left on each needle (24 sts in total), finishing with row 2.
Cut the yarn leaving a 25 cm tail, then close the toes with a grafting.
Knit your second sock the same.
Bravo! Prepare yourself a well-deserved tea, cozy up on your sofa, slip your feet warm into your brand-
new socks, and watch a Christmas movie dripping with romance and good feelings!
