True confessions: in all my knitting, I haven’t gotten around to a sock yet. I live in California where we don’t really need socks, plus if I’m going to dedicate my rare knitting time to a project, I want it to be visible and not have to go through the wear and tear of a sock. And yet when I see the sock yarns and all the wonderful patterns available, my resolve starts to waiver.
This ornament gives me a chance to play with those beautiful sock yarns, but I was able to cheat since I didn’t have to worry about it ever actually fitting anyone. No double pointed needles, no gussets, just single crochet and letting the variegated sock yarn do all the work. The shaping comes from simple increases and decreases that even the most beginner of beginner crocheters can accomplish, while they’re gathering up their courage to tackle real shaping.
Crocheted Sock Ornament Pattern:
Chain 17 stitches (or 30 stitches to make a loop to hang it)
Row 1: single crochet in the first chain from the hook (or the 14th for the loop) and all the way across the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Rows 2 – 24: single crochet (sc) across the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 25: Increase by single crocheting twice in the first sc of the row. Sc across the rest of the row. Chain 1. Turn. (We’ll abbreviate this method of increase by writing “inc 1”)
Row 26: inc 1, Sc across the rest of the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 27: Sc until the last stitch. inc 1. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 28: inc 1. Sc until the last stitch. inc 1. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 29: Sc until the last stitch. inc 2. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 30: inc 2, Sc across the rest of the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 31: Sc until the last stitch. inc 2. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 32: inc 2, Sc across the rest of the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 33: Sc until the last stitch. inc 1. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 34: inc 1, Sc across the rest of the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 35: Sc until the last stitch. inc 1. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 36: inc 1, Sc across the rest of the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 37: Decrease by skipping the first single crochet (sk 1), Sc across the rest of the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 38: Sc across the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 39: sk 1. Sc across the rest of the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 40: Sc until the last stitch. sk 1. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 41: sk 1. Sc across the rest of the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 42: Sc until the last two stitches. sk 2. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 43: sk 2. Sc across the rest of the row. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 44: sk 1. Sc until the last three stitches. sk 3. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 45: sk 2. Sc until the last three stitches. sk 1. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 46: sk 1. Sc until the last three stitches. sk 3. Chain 1. Turn.
Row 47: sk 2. Sc until the last three stitches. sk 1. Chain 1. Turn.
Tie off.
You’ll need to make this pattern twice for each sock. A front piece, and a back piece that includes a loop for hanging.
Match your two pieces together and gather all your loose threads on the outside. Unless you are a seriously consistent crocheter, your socks might be shaped a little differently. Pin the edges together as necessary to get them to line up neatly.
Join them together by single crocheting all the way around the edge. I used that opportunity to crochet over all my ends too, to save me the step of having to weave them all in. Just take the ends you’ve gathered together and line them up neatly along the edge, then just crochet right over the top of them.
I took these pictures immediately after crocheting, but before I hang them on the tree I’m going to give them a simple blocking by getting them damp and letting them dry flat. That will help take some of the curl out and get them to hang straight.
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