Rick & Roll Socks are here!

Who doesn’t love a good boot-friendly sock? They keep your toes warm while doubling as a buffer between blister-inducing boot tops, plus they are a great way to add a pop of color and texture to your outfit. The Rick & Roll Socks are the newest pattern from Hands Occupied. Available on Ravelry, these socks are a great way to show off your best sock yarn. (If you’re stash diving look for 100g of yarn you can get 6 stitches and 8 rows per inch on US size 1 needles.) The Rick & Roll Socks are a perfect design for first time sock knitters to tackle because they make the most of an interesting stitch – and a clever construction trick – to create a knittable, wearable finished object.

About the Rick & Roll Socks

Worked from the cuff down, these fun socks take a classic sock structure and turn it on its head. The cuff, ankle and heel flap of these socks are actually worked inside out before turning the sock right side out to construct the gusset, foot and toe sections. Why? The rick rack rib stitch used to create a thick rib on the cuff of the sock is most easily knit right side out. Since these socks are designed to be folded down to keep ankles toasty in cold weather, it is easier to knit the cuff and ankle inside out so when worn, the zig zags of the rick rack stitch face out.

Rick Rack Rib Stitch in the Round

The real star of the Rick & Roll Socks is a stitch called the rick rack rib stitch. This is a stitch I discovered in Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (the #1 knitting reference book I recommend above all others, btw). The book features how to work the stitch flat, but not in the round as is called for in the Rick & Roll Socks. Since it wouldn’t be a new pattern release from yours truly without a tutorial video to help you through the fussy parts, here’s a brand new video on how to work the rick rack rib stitch.

Cuff Down Socks

New to cuff down sock knitting? Or any kind of sock knitting? A couple years ago, the very first knit along featured on Hands Occupied was all about knitting a pair of cuff down socks from scratch. The Rick & Roll Socks are knit using cuff down construction, so they make a great pattern to try if you’re a first time sock knitter. Check out these tutorials for how to knit socks starting from the top:

Testing Gauge & Casting On / The Heel Flap / Short Row Heel Turn / The Gusset 

Welcome, Yarnboxers!

This pattern is being released today, the same day the latest Yarnbox subscription ships out, because it’s this month’s featured design from the knitting kit subscription company. If you’re here from Yarnbox, welcome! Feel free to reach out in the comments section, on Ravelry or via email with any questions. My email address is heidi-at-handsoccupied-dot-com. :)

Read Along Knit Along

One last thing! Regular Hands Occupiers may have already guessed this, but the Rick & Roll Socks are totally the pattern we’re knitting for the Read Along Knit Along that starts Saturday, March 4. If you join the RALKAL Ravelry Thread, you can check out what everyone is talking about over there. We’ve basically been comparing what yarns people have been contemplating for the RALKAL, sharing Judy Garland gifs & generally getting ready to cast on some socks and crack open our copies of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society this weekend. If you head over there today and join us, you may even find a *cough cough* coupon code *cough* for the new pattern.

What the heck is a RALKAL?