Saturday, April 22, 2006

Basketcase Socks - revisited

Since the Basketcase Socks pattern is now only available through archived web pages, I thought I'd put it up again here. I've made a few modifications to reflect the way I knit socks now - and I spell-checked it :-)


Basketcase Socks

A medium-sized sock with a stretchy-clingy woven rib design along the leg and down the instep. This sock was originally designed to provide some cling for a wool-cotton blend yarn but should work equally well, or better, with other yarns.

Materials:
DK weight yarn - three 50 g. balls
4 DPN needles size 2.5 mm., or size required to meet gauge
Stitch markers

Gauge:
7 sts equals 1 inch in st. st. worked in the round.

Special stitches used:
All stitches are slipped purl-wise unless otherwise noted.
SSK - Slip 1 knit-wise, Slip 1 purl-wise, insert left needle in front of the two stitches and K2tog.

Cast on 60 stitches. Join, being careful not to twist, and divide evenly (20, 20, 20) among three needles. Knit in K2, P2 rib for 20 rounds, approximately 2 inches.

Commence pattern (repeat of 12, pattern will be knit five times per round):

Rnds 1 & 2: K 10, P 2
Rnds 3 & 4: K 2, P 6, K 2, P 2
Rnds 5 & 6: K 10, P 2
Rnds 7 & 8: K 4, P 2, K6
Rnds 9 & 10: (P 2, K 2) twice, P 4
Rnds 11 & 12: K 4, P 2, K 6

Knit these 12 rounds a total of four times, or 48 rounds.

Divide for heel: In order to centre the instep pattern, knit the next eight stitches onto the same needle you just finished. Turn. Slip 1, purl across. Purl the next two stitches onto the heel flap needle. Needle now has 30 stitches. Divide the remaining 30 stitches evenly onto the two remaining needles or place on a stitch holder. Turn and commence heel flap.

Heel Flap (Eye of Partridge or staggered heel stitch)

Row 1: *Slip 1, K1*, repeat between *s.
Row 2: Slip 1, purl across.
Row 3: Slip 1, K2, *Slip 1, K1*, repeat between *s, end K1.
Row 4: Slip 1, purl across.

Repeat these four rows for a length of 2.75 inches, or as desired.

Turn heel (I chose to do a square heel, but you can, of course, choose whichever heel you wish)

Row 1: Slip 1, Knit 19 stitches, SSK, turn.
Row 2: Slip 1, Purl 10 stitches, P2tog, turn.
Row 3: Slip 1, Knit 10 stitches, SSK, turn.

Repeat the last two rows until all stitches have been worked (12 sts remaining). Slip 1, knit across.

Gusset and Instep:

Instep Pattern (18 stitches):

Rows 1 & 2: K 8, P 2, K 8
Rows 3 & 4: P 6, K 2, P 2, K 2, P 6
Rows 5 & 6: K 8, P 2, K 8
Rows 7 & 8: K 2, P 2, K 10, P 2, K 2
Rows 9 & 10: K 2, P 2, K 2, P 6, K 2, P 2, K 2
Rows 11 & 12: K 2, P 2, K 10, P 2, K 2

Pick up one stitch in each of the slipped stitch loops along the side of the heel flap.

Pick up an extra stitch in the corner between the heel flap and the instep and place it on the instep needle. Knit this extra stitch through the back loop. Knit 6 stitches. Place marker. Knit Row 1 of instep pattern. Knit to end of needle. Pick up one stitch in the corner and place it on the instep needle. Knit this extra stitch through the back loop. Pick up one stitch in each of the slipped stitch loops along the other side of the flap. Knit 6 stitches.

You are now at the beginning of the round (the middle of the heel) - if necessary, re-arrange stitches so the heel/gusset is divided evenly.

Knit to the last three stitches on needle one, K2tog, K1. On the instep needle, SSK, knit to marker, knit Row 2 of instep pattern, knit to last two stitches, K2tog. On needle three, K 1, SSK, knit to end.

Instep Decreases:
Rnd 1: Needle 1, knit across. Needle 2, knit to marker, knit next row of instep pattern, knit to end of needle. Needle 3, knit across.
Rnd 2: Needle 1, knit to last three stitches, K2tog, K1. Needle 2, knit to marker, knit next row of instep pattern, knit to end of needle. Needle 3, SSK, knit to end of needle.

Repeat these two rounds until you are down to 15 stitches on each of needles 1 and 3, 60 stitches total. At this point you may wish to move some stitches from the instep needle onto the other two needles to make it easier to knit, but be sure to re-arrange them 15-30-15 before you do the toe. Continue knitting even, keeping instep in pattern, until foot of sock is approximately two inches shorter than required foot length.

Toe:
Discontinue instep pattern and knit instep needle in st. st.

Decrease Rnd: Needle 1, knit to last three stitches, K2tog, K1. Needle 2, K1, SSK, knit to last three stitches, K2tog, K1. Needle 3, K1, SSK, knit to end.

Knit one Decrease Rnd, then knit 3 rounds even.
* Knit one Decrease Rnd, then knit two rounds even * two times.
* Knit one Decrease Rnd, then knit one round even * three times.
Continue with just Decrease Rnds until 16 stitches remain (4-8-4).

Knit the stitches on needle 1 onto needle 3 so you have 8 stitches on each needle. Graft toe stitches. Make another sock exactly the same!

Copyright notice: I am sharing this pattern with you for free. You can use and share this pattern for free. You CANNOT sell this pattern OR the products of it.

25 people had something to say:

Jason said...

Yipee! Thanks Dave! :-)

Zee said...

What a lovely, lovely pattern. Thanks for sharing. :)

I truly love how your basketcase socks came out!

Unknown said...

Thanks for your kind words about my Turkish cast on illustrations, and for your link to the heel patterns. Love your socks and your blog!

HPNY KNITS said...

thanks for sharing this pattern. they look great! its a nice unisex pattern, not easy to find, besides the plain ones.

limedragon :-: Harriet said...

Thanks for the compliments on my 6th Sense socks. : )

Your Basketcase pattern is yummy; they would make great gifts. I'll have to keep an eye out for some appropriate yarn at the two local yarn vendor events coming up soon.

Karen said...

Great looking socks! Thanks for sharing the pattern. These are definitely on my to-do list!

Unknown said...

I might just break out of my "sock weight" yarn rut and make a pair of these - they look wonderful Dave! Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Dave, those came out GREAT! The color is really nice, too.

aija said...

Very very cool... I have a bunch of dkish yarn that would be good for this :)

Unknown said...

Those are great socks Dave! I am going to be writing the pattern down; I love them!

lexa said...

Very nice! Thanks for posting the pattern!

aija said...

Hey Dave!

I'm working on your pattern now, I'm on the gusset decreases/instep pattern but I think the instep pattern is off?

Yours says it is 18 sts, but I think its 30...

row 1 & 2: k2, p2, (k10, p2) twice, k2
row 3 & 4: k2, p2, (k2, p6, k2, p2) twice, k2
row 5 & 6: k2, p2, (k10, p2) twice, k2
row 7 & 8: k8, p2, k6, k4, p2, k8
row 9 & 10: (p6, k2, p2, k2) twice, p6
row 11 & 12: k8, p2, k 10, p2, k8

LMK if I'm making a mistake :) I'm using the above pattern on my instep and its in pattern so far.

Great patt btw! :) I started yesterday & may finish one today, I think I should have a pic in the afternoon, depending :)

Dave said...

Mine is 18 stitches. It's one and a half repeats of the main 12 stitch pattern, centered around the central 2P rib that comes down the instep. If you're doing 30, that two and a half repeats, so you've probably got an extra half repeat on either side. Should work either way, but I have more "plain" stitches going down the foot.

aija said...

ooooooh... :) hehe, cool.

I'll post pics later today, love the pattern.

Nik said...

i said a big "wow" to myself when I saw the picture of this sock. I love basketweave stitch and it looks good on this sock.

Anonymous said...

I think that I have to make those!!!

Mary, Mary... said...

HPNY turned me on to these. Perfect for the first pair knitted for the DH. Thank you.

Alice said...

those are AMAZING

Unknown said...

Great pattern, thank you for posting.

knitphomaniac said...

stellar pattern, thanks :)

Anonymous said...

I'm stuck at the 'Gusset and Instep' part of the pattern. I'm a newbie, so I need some help interprting what I need to do next...

I have 12 stitches on the "heel" needle, 15 stitches on each of the two needles coming down the front of the sock, and 20 stitches that I picked up on the instep needle. The yarn tail is at the end of the instep needle between the instep needle and the 1st needle.

It isn't clear to me what to do on each of the two needles that contain 15 stitches each (front of sock), or what to do with the heel needle. Am I supposed to be doing the instep pattern on the picked up stitches? I don't know whether my tail is in the right place. I don't how the "knit 6 stitches" fits into the instep pattern.

Very confused.

Julie

Dave said...

Julie, you didnt' leave an email addressd to reply to you personally, so I hope you see this here.

It sounds like you're on the right track. You're now ready to knit across the instep - 30 stitches. The first six stitches on the instep are plain knit. The next 18 are the pattern stitches. The last six are plain knit. 6 + 18 + 6 = 30.

Does that help?

Anonymous said...

Well, it's September, 2007, and your pattern lives on. I've just finished the first sock in Jitterbug, for my husband, and we both love it. Will be casting on the second sock tonight ... thanks so much for this pattern, Dave.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful design! And I love stretchy socks!

Thanks for the pattern! :-)

Unknown said...

Thank you! I love DK-weight socks!