If anyone is counting… this is my 15th pair of Monkey Socks!
Monkey is one of my go-to patterns for variegated yarn because the lace pattern actually complements the changing colors rather than competing with them. Why? The lace pattern is made up of wide stockinette panels with biased stitches, which is a fancy way of saying the stitches are knitted at an angle, and it highlights all the color changes.
I recently learned that fun fact about how hand-painted yarn interacts with biased stitches from the introduction to Cookie A’s book Sock Innovation, a primer on designing sock patterns in her signature intricate geometric style. It’s a fascinating read for knitting nerds, so I definitely recommend checking it out. You can snag the Kindle version for $3.99, which blows my mind. So don’t sleep on that.
Not to confuse you: the Monkey pattern is not published in Sock Innovation – it’s in Knit. Sock. Love.– which is out of print but worth tracking down a used copy if you can. That book has some of my favorite Cookie A patterns, including BFF and In and Out. But, if you just want the pattern for Monkey, it’s free where it was originally published in Knitty, an epic free online knitting magazine, or you can get the version featured on Knitting Daily on Interweave’s website.
Anyway, let’s return to my original thought about patterns that work well with variegated yarns. So, yes, the lace pattern used in Monkey is stunning in a multicolored yarn. The traditional heel construction with a flap and gusset? That varies. I’ve had bad luck with some variegated yarns pooling around the heels of my Monkeys, so sometimes I’ll swap in a short row heel out of an abundance of caution. That’s what I did in this pair when I inserted my favorite FLK heel:
If you want to learn more about the Monkey Sock Pattern, check out this post where I share four versions of the pattern. And if you are curious about color pooling and the FLK heel solution, I’ve got you covered here.
For fun, here’s another pic of these socks. Then I’ll wrap us up with the project details. If you want more pics and project notes, you can hop over to my archived WIP page for this project.
yarn details
Craftily Dyed Yarn Alpaca Sock in Stellar
Fingering Weight
60% Superwash Merino, 20% Super Fine Alpaca, 20% Nylon
437 yards / 100g skein
Purchased in February 2024
project details
pattern: “Monkey Socks” by Cookie A (links above)
size knit: Knitty Size (CO 64)
needles: US Size 1.5 (2.5 mm) bamboo dpns
yarn used: 293 yards (67 grams)
finished size: 9” from top of cuff to turn of heel; 8.75” from back of heel to tip of toe; leg approx 3.5” diameter and foot is 3.25” in diameter – all after blocking.
duration: June 2025 – January 2026
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