Herding Cats Socks Pattern Review: A Purr-fect Way to Use Leftover Yarn!

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The Herding Cats Socks Pattern by Stone Knits is a purr-fect knitting project for anyone who is experienced in stranded colorwork. (Or for someone who is willing to learn!)  The pattern was released in January and its becoming quite popular among us cat-loving knitters.  The best part about Herding Cats is that you can use up leftover sock yarn from previous knitting projects for a zero-waste knitting adventure!

How Much Yarn Do You Need?

I used a new ball of Knit Picks Stroll in Dove Heather as the base and then bits of orange and brown yarn scraps from my stash to knit this pair as an ode to my two kitties: Octavia and Ody.

I knitted up size 2 and my foot length is about 8.25”. For this, I used 190 yards of the grey – so, about 80% of the ball – and then 47 yards of each of the two cat colors, which works out to approximately 16 yards per each row of cats.  I took all of these measurements by weighing my yarn before and after finishing the project, so those yardages include yarn that was “wasted” in tails.

Like I said, I used a fresh ball of yarn for the grey base but you could definitely knit these socks out of all leftover yarn by doing the cuff, heel, and toe in contrasting colors. In fact, I think next time I make these, I’m going to go way more wild with the colors. BTW, this would also be the perfect project for mini skeins too! (I’ve been eyeing this set of jewel tone mini skeins at Global Backyard… I may have to get them!)

How to Knit Herding Cats Socks

Colorwork

I learned how to knit stranded colorwork in the Craftsy class Stranded Colorwork: Basics and Beyond. It’s not difficult. I’m an English-style knitter so I held the grey yarn in my right hand and threw that yarn, then I held the other colors in my left hand and “picked” the stitches. If you work colorwork this way, it’s super important that you always hold your background color in the same hand throughout the project – don’t switch it up.

I captured my floats on the three rows that represent the length of the cat body; I alternated capturing my floats on the 4th and 6th stitches every other row so they didn’t stack up and create heaviness. The pattern designer recommends letting the floats fly to keep the socks a little stretchier, but I don’t like getting my toes caught on super long floats when I put on socks so I tidied them up a bit.

Here is what they look like inside out, if you’re curious:

Needle Choice

My biggest pro-tip for knitting these Herding Cats Socks is to use a 9 inch circular needle instead of dpns or doing magic loop. It can be challenging to maintain your tension when doing stranded colorwork and you have to reset your grip every time you switch needles… and… if you use 9” circulars, you never have to switch needles! Woot! If you’ve never used 9″ circulars before, they take some getting used to. At first it might be uncomfortable on your hands, but keep at it and you’ll get the hang of it. Hey – maybe you’ll fall in love with them? Some sock knitters use them once and swear they’ll never go back! (I think I’ll forever be a dpn girl, but these little circular needles are my fave for colorwork!)

Blocking

Finally, do not skip blocking these babies! It is amazing how much it helps to even out all the stitches! When I first started knitting these, I thought the stitches on the orange kitties looked so messy that I ripped them out and started over, but it turns out that blocking did the trick. Here’s a close up of what they looked like before blocking:

See how wonky they looked? That all went away in blocking. To block these socks, I let them soak in the sink with some wool wash for about 20 minutes, then I used a towel to soak up most of the water.  Then I gave them lots of light tugs in all directions to even out the stitches and put them on a pair of sock blockers to air dry.

I just can’t say enough how happy I am with how these turned out! I’ll definitely be knitting many more pairs of Herding Cats socks as I bust through my leftover yarn stash!

yarn details

Knit Picks Stroll in Dove Heather and Burnt Umber Heather
Fingering Weight
75% Fine Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon
Machine wash gentle, tumble dry low or lay flat to dry
50 g/ 231 yd ball

Black Sheep Dyeworks Sock Weight Superwash Merino
Fingering Weight
100% Superwash Wool
Machine Wash, Dry Flat
107 g / 465 yd skein

project details

pattern: “Herding Cats” by Stone Knits (available in English and German via Ravelry)
size knit: 2
needles: US size 2 (2.75 mm) 9” circular needles with wood tips and size 1 (2.25 mm) nickel-plated fixed circulars from Knit Picks
gauge: about 16.5 stitches over 2” in the cat colorwork pattern – after blocking
yarn used: 190 yards grey, 47 yards each of brown and orange
finished size: leg: 4” diameter, back of heel to tip of toe: about 8.25”, top of cuff to bottom of heel: 7” (I wear a US women’s size 6.5 and these are a good fit).
duration: March – June 2023