My Favorite Easy Sock Knitting Pattern with Faux Cables and a Framed Heel

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Nine to Five is an easy sock knitting pattern that looks super elegant with its faux cables and framed heel flap.  I’ve worked it a couple of times before: once in a glimmer yarn and once in a tonal, but I think this solid gold Stroll sock yarn takes the cake. The stitchwork is so pretty and the solid yarn lets that do the talking.

As I said, I’m a big fan of this pattern because it’s super easy, but looks complicated. Those are best kinds of patterns! (Oh, and did i mention it’s a free pattern!?) You can even learn to “read” the stitches and figure out what row you are on if you want to knit it from memory instead of using a row counter. Here’s the tip:

The patterned rows themselves are pretty easy to read, but if you stop after a plain row, it takes a moment to think it through.  If your stitches look kind of like xXxX, that was a row 1 and you just knitted row 2.  If they look like xxXX, that was a row 3 and you just knitted row 4.

These socks also have kind of a fancy framed heel flap that adds a nice finish.  I had never done anything like this before, but the instructions were very clear. Here’s a close up:

I used some Knitter’s Pride Karbonz DPNs on these socks. This was a great needle choice because the metal tips are super pointy and made it easy to cross the stitches. For me, the Karbonz needles have that same lightweight feel and nice grip as wood DPNs but they are made from carbon fiber and will definitely not snap. The sad thing is that they only come in 6” or 8” lengths and I really prefer to knit with 5” needles. But I do really like them and if you arrange your stitches over three needles instead of four it’s not so bad.

yarn details

Knit Picks Stroll in Treasure
Dye Lot 453875
Fingering Weight
75% Superwash Merino, 25% Nylon
Machine Wash Cold, Lay Flat to Dry
$5.49 per 50 g / 231 yd skein
Purchased in April 2020

project details

pattern: “Nine to Five Socks” by Nicole Hindes; available as a free Ravelry download!
size knit: (one size)
needles: US size 1.5 (2.5 mm), Karbonz DPNs
gauge: 18 st x 25 rows over 2” in stockinette (unblocked)
yarn used: 374 yards (81 grams)
finished size: Top of cuff to bottom of heel flap: 8.5”; (Top of cuff to top of heel flap: 6.5”); Back of heel flap to tip of toe: ~10”
duration: August 13, 2020 – March 19, 2021

notes

I got a little carried away while knitting the foot – it must have been a really intense episode of SG-1.  The foot should have been 9.5” max and it’s pushing 10”.  I hope they will still fit her!