Ryegrass Socks

One of the best things about knitting socks, I always think, is how clever they make you look as a knitter.  Now that you can knit socks, you know that there’s nothing about heels or toes that you can’t manage, but to a non-knitter (or even a non-sock knitter), turning that 90 degree angle for the heel or creating a seam-free end to your sock looks like the hardest thing in the world.

I often think that about colourwork.  We look at the way the colours blend together to create patterns and many people are immediately put off because they know that more than one colour is involved and therefore, it will be Too Hard.  Add in what’s required to create a sock and Too Hard becomes Impossible before you’ve even started – and I think that’s such a shame.

That’s where mosaic socks come in.  Oh my goodness, when I first designed this pattern back in 2019, I was obsessed with the idea of how slipped stitches created a pattern that looked so much like colourwork – but only required you to knit with one colour at a time.  What was this sorcery?  I thought it was brilliant, and I haven’t changed my opinion now!  Mosaic knitting means that even if colourwork is something you have tried and not enjoyed, because of the way the pattern is created with slip stitches, you can do this!

I’ve written a few mosaic patterns now but this one was the first and I love it most for that.  I hope you’ll love it too!

Introducing … the Ryegrass Socks!

This striking combination is created by choosing two contrasting colours – not close contrasts as you might use for contrast cuffs, heels and toes, but complimentary colours that won’t get lost as you work the pattern.  Mosaic is different to traditional colourwork in that you only use one colour at a time so it’s actually easier and definitely a good next step from basic socks to colourwork if you don’t feel that you can make the leap in one go.

The pattern is a four-stitch slip stitch pattern which goes around the whole of the leg, no matter which size you knit (and as with all of my patterns, this is designed for 4 sizes from 8″/20cm to 91/2″/24cm, and it’s easy to remember the stitch pattern too, which will make this a good TV knitting pattern 🙂

It’s also pretty quick to knit up.  I am very grateful to my team of test knitters who helped me to check the pattern made sense and in the time that the test knit was running, some of them made two and three pairs of this pattern – it’s great for using up leftovers and stash!

The heel is the Ribbed Heel Flap that I designed quite a few years ago now.  This has a purl stitch instead of a knit stitch in between the slipped stitches on the heel flap (you can see how it works in my Patchwork Socks tutorial) and it is great for people who might have a wider heel as sometimes the traditional slip stitch heel flap can be a bit tight.

The trick with this heel flap is to make sure that you take your yarn to the back of your work after slipping the stitch – it’s not the end of the world if you don’t as you do get an attractive look with the slipped yarn carried across the stitch, but if you’re looking for the rib lines like this then you do need to make sure that you move your yarn.

I don’t carry the pattern all the way to the end of the toe decreases as it’s easier to drop the contrast yarn and knit the toes in one colour.  I like the way the colour stops and the main colour continues to the end of the toes.  It also makes the toes less bulky which is better for wearing in shoes and boots.

The cuff is twisted rib which I think always looks very elegant …

But the sole is what really makes these socks stand out.  As if the slip stitch pattern wasn’t impressive enough, those stripes across the sole stop everyone in their tracks …

There’s something about a striped sole like this which I think lifts a sock from ordinary to something else – but this is so easy because you’re only using one colour anyway so you don’t have to do anything special!

I originally designed the Ryegrass Sock back in 2019 when the Winwick Mum yarns first came out for a Knit Now magazine sock supplement released in January 2020.  The Ryegrass Socks were in the supplement with the Boxy Rib Socks, Carousel and Love Spoon (you can read about them here) but although I released the other three patterns some time ago, I haven’t released Ryegrass until now.

This colourway is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply in Bubblegum (now discontinued although you may still find some online) and Brightside, one of the first Winwick Mum Collection colours.

You may still have the Knit Now supplement book with all four patterns in, but they have now all been updated and re-written in my own style (as opposed to the Knit Now house style), and I am very happy with the way this pattern has turned out.  My fabulous test knitter group were able to ask me questions which allowed me to put more detail into the pattern – something that I always love to do when I can as I think that more is more helpful when it comes to patterns!

Knit Now asked if they could re-release the Ryegrass pattern a few years ago and I knitted a second colourway in Cherry Drop and Winter Icicle to go with that issue of the pattern.

I think they’re lovely!  The striped contrast yarn works so well with a solid colour for this pattern.

What do you think?  Do you fancy having a go for yourself?

Just to give you an idea of how different colours look – and the importance of choosing colours that will really stand against each other – here are a few of my test knitters’ colourways so that you can see how they work.  There are a few Winwick Mum yarns in there, but others are various hand dyed or commercial yarns, and I think they all look brilliant!

The pattern looks great with plain yarns too!

I’ve got more photos to show you but I’ll keep those for another day.  I am very grateful to my tech editor and test knit group (Angela, Ann, Betty, Carol, Claire, Eleanor, Heather, Helen, Jan, Jane, James, Jo, Joy, Julia, Karan, Linda, Lynne, Margaret, Miranda, Pat, Rosie, Sandra, Sally, Susan H, Susan L, Susan R, Sarah) for all their help.

 

The pattern is written for four sizes for a foot circumference from 8-9½” (20-24cm) and there are both charts and written instructions for each size.  If you’ve never knitted socks before or if you feel you might get stuck, you can use the Winwick Mum Sockalong tutorials to help as all of my sock patterns are based on the Basic 4ply Socks pattern.

If you would like to buy a copy of the Ryegrass Socks pattern, I would be delighted, thank you!

You can buy a copy of the pattern through Ravelry or Payhip if you are overseas (they work out the taxes for me).  It’s a big pattern – 10 pages – but you don’t have to print them all out (I’ve given you the breakdown of which pages are pattern and which are info pages).  If you read your patterns through a tablet or computer, it’s not a problem but I didn’t want you to use up all your printer ink if you didn’t have to!

You can find the Ryegrass Socks pattern here on Ravelry and if you’re not a Ravelry member, you can use this button (it doesn’t take you to the website):

You can also find the button on Payhip here.

 

Don’t forget that you can use the code BIRTHDAY10 for 10% off all my patterns and books until 31 May 2025.

 

If you do use Ravelry, you can link to the project page here if you would like to – and do let me see your photos either by email or on social media as I would love to see how you get on with your very own pair of Ryegrass Socks!

Thank you so much for supporting me! xx