Three Striped Socks Walk Into a Blog Post…

I’ve been meaning to give each of these striped sock projects their own moment in the blog spotlight, but I’ve sadly fallen behind. So today we’re doing things a little differently: it’s a mega-post! Three pairs of striped socks, three different methods, and one happy knitting blogger catching up on her backlog.

Before we dive in… I’ll finish that joke I started in the title. Three striped socks walk into a singles bar. The bartender looks up and says: “Are you here to meet your sole-mates?” 🤣

And now… let’s talk stripes!

Neutral Breton Striped Socks

I wrote a bit about these socks when I posted a review on Summer Lee’s The Sock Project, which is the book that inspired me to do this 8-3 Breton stripe sequence. I knitted these for my Uncle, so I shyed away from Summer’s bold color choices to choose something a bit more classic and masculine for him. I even used a tweed yarn for the dark brown stripe for a truly classic look!

I’ve knitted a lot of striped socks in my day, but I almost always use self-striping sock yarn, so this was a different kind of project for me. I didn’t break the yarn between stripes – I just carried it up the inside; so no ends to weave in. Yay! I’d definitely knit these again.

The next two socks I’ll share were done with self-striping yarns.

Knit Picks Felici Socks With a Bulls-Eye Afterthought Heel

If you follow my blog at all, you’ll see dozens of Felici socks all knitted up with this same technique from a very old video tutorial by Emily B. Miller called A Sock Surgeon’s Afterthought Heel. I love the cool bulls-eye effect you get with the self-striping yarn and the width of the stripes in Knit Picks Felici go perfectly with this heel.

And, if you’re wondering what the deal is with the whole “surgeon” reference, that’s because you knit these socks as long tubes and then use a pair of scissors to snip out the heel at the end.  Here’s a fun little vid of me getting my snip on:

Like, I said, I’ve knitted a lot of these!! Here is a link to my tag for this technique if you want to see them all.  This post is probably the best one if you want to learn more about this technique: How to Knit With Self-Striping Sock Yarn.

Knit Picks Felicini Socks With a Contrasting Short Row Heel

Felici (the yarn pictured above) is a cult-favorite yarn among many knitters, but Knit Picks occasionally discontinues it. (They always bring it back eventually, so don’t panic.)  During one of their “off-again” periods with Felici, they released a sister yarn called Felicini that was the same base, but thinner stripes. Felicini was recently discontinued and I don’t know if they’ll bring this one back. But if you like the look, you can sometimes find skinnier stripes in Regia and Patons Kroy yarns or check Etsy for what indie-dyers have to offer.

Felicini doesn’t look great with the bulls-eye afterthought heel because the stripes don’t stay a consistent width throughout the heel as the stitch counts change, but it’s really fun to use in socks with a coordinating solid-colored yarn for the cuff, heel, and toe:

I like to do a  short row heel or an afterthought/forethought heel for this sock. You can theoretically do a heelflap & gusset construction with a solid yarn for the heelflap, but the stripe sequence will be messed up in the gusset and I don’t think you’ll like it. (The gusset section has more stitches per round, so the stripes will be thinner. Since Felicini stripes are already super skinny to begin with, this effect will be really obvious.)

The FLK Heel is my go-to technique for a short row heel, but I’ve heard good things about the Shadow Wrap Heel, so I gave it a try on these socks. It was easy to knit and looks good, but it didn’t exactly change my world. Still, when you knit as many socks as I do, it’s always fun to mix things up and learn something new.  

Not sure what heel technique you like best? I did one of each on the last pair of Felicini socks I knitted. I was hoping to get a definitive answer on whether the FLK heel is better than a regular short row heel, but TBH, both socks fit and feel exactly the same. So I now feel free to choose any heel that suits my mood in the moment. Freedom lies in being bold, y’all.

I hope you enjoyed the tour de stripes! This concludes our journey, but I’m popping all the yarn & project details below if you want to be the next knitter to get your stripe on.

Breton Striped Socks Notes

notes

• I made these for my Uncle and initially knitted the foot super long. I was just going to make him deal with it, but then I had guilt and picked out the kitchener and fixed it. (Picking out kitchener = not fun!)
• I created a WIP page for these socks if you want to see more pics.

Felici Socks With Afterthought Heel

Felicini Socks With Short Row Heel