Child’s Sock Pattern

This is a great little sock for any child whose feet are 6” long from heel to toe. I’ve been making them for a couple of my little friends who are two and 3 years old. (They have the same size feet. Go figure.) You can get two pairs of anklets out of one 50-gram ball of Regia, or other fingering-weight sock yarn, so now the girls have matching socks. The cute factor is just about excruciating.

This is a toe-up pattern.

Materials:

• One 50-gram ball of Regia, or other fingering-weight sock yarn.

• One set of double-pointed needles—size 1 or size needed to get gauge.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch.

Cast on: To cast on, hold two needles side by side and, using the long-tail method, cast sts onto alternating needles (i.e. CO 1 st on front needle, 1 st on back needle) until there are 8 sts on each needle.

Knit: Using a third needle, knit 1 round.

Begin toe increase as follows: Inc 1 in the first st on the needle, knit until there are 2 sts left on the needle, inc 1 in the next st, K1. Repeat for the other needle.

Keep increasing until there are 16 sts on each needle. Add a fourth or even a fifth needle when you feel like it, making sure to keep track of the places where you increase. (What I usually do is place the 16 sts that are on the second needle onto two needles.)

Knit 1 round.

Continue increasing every other round until there are 40 sts total.

Knit around without increasing until sock measures 4” from the toe.

Heel shaping: Work back and forth on 20 sts until the sock measures 6” from heel flap to toe. Then...

Turn heel as follows: K 11, K2tog, K1, turn. Sl1, P3, P2tog, P1, turn. *Sl1, knit to within 1 st of the gap, K2tog, K1, turn. Sl1, purl to within 1 st of gap, P2tog, P1, turn.* Repeat * to * until you reach the ends of the row. 12 sts remain.

Pick up and knit 14 sts along each side of the heel flap for a total of 60 sts. Place the instep sts all on one needle then divide the heel and gusset sts between two needles.

Knit 1 round.

Decrease for the gusset as follows: *Knit until there are 3 sts left on the first gusset needle, K2tog, K1, knit across the instep needle. At the beginning of the third needle, K1, SSK, knit to end of needle. Knit 1 round.* Repeat * to* until you are back to your original 40 sts.

Work 6 rounds of K2, P2 ribbing.

Bind off loosely.