This pattern was designed especially for the 2023 West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas yarn, Nutcracker.
Using the popular Christmas ornament as inspiration, my head was soon buzzing with ideas about long boots laced up to the top and military uniforms … and I managed to incorporate all of my ideas into the socks!
The Alexander pattern has got cables (proper fancy cables – you wait till you see them!), twisted stitches and textured chevrons so if you’re looking for something a bit different, this pattern is for you! As always, it’s based on my Basic 4ply Socks pattern so if you’re new to socks or need a refresher, you can use the Sockalong tutorials to help you.
Those fancy cables look just like the laces on the Nutcracker’s boots in the top photo – I’m really proud of those! There are also chevrons at the bottom (lots of military uniforms have chevron stripes so I wanted to incorporate those here too) and on the back, there are twisted stitches of “military” braid, inspired by the ceremonial uniforms of formal processions.
The heel flap is in Ribbed Heel Stitch which makes it a little bit stretchier for those with wider feet, or even just for those who feel that a heel flap is usually a bit tighter than they’d like to wear. The twisted stitch rib sections give some stretch too, so there’s no need to adjust the size you’d usually knit because there’s a cable on the front – they should still fit properly if you knit your usual size.
Useful to know
Size
To fit ball of foot circumference 8 [8.5:9:9.5] inches ; 20 [22:23:24] cm
Yarn
1 x 100g ball West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply in Nutcracker
For WYS yarn stockists, click here.
Materials
2.5mm needles – short circular needle, DPNs (double pointed needles) or 80cm circular for magic loop
1 set DPNs size 3.0mm (optional for a looser cuff)
1 set DPNs size 2.5mm (not required for magic loop)
Stitch holder (optional)
Stitch markers
Wool needle
Tension
30 sts to 10 cm (4 ins) in stocking stitch (worked in the round) on 2.5mm needles.
This pattern is for:
- Knitters who can confidently cast on, knit and purl.
- Knitters who are not afraid to try out a new cable stitch!
- People who want their socks to stand out from the crowd and command a bit of atten-shun!
This pattern is based on my Basic 4ply Socks pattern, which means that you can find photo and video help in the Winwick Mum Sockalong tutorials.
There’s a video to help you create the increase and decrease stitches of the cables here.
You can read the blog post about this pattern and the yarn here.
For WYS yarn stockists, click here.
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