I love wearing handmade socks so much and decided to make a pair of shorties for the summer. Every now and again I need a pair when there's a bit of a chill and for walking (knitted socks are so good even in summer for walking!). I deliberately chose a pair with lace work, which I would normally avoid, for added 'airiness'. Years ago I happily purchased the Handmade Sock Society Season 2, enjoying each new pattern as it was released and merrily forgetting about it because there's never enough time to knit everything. I had particularly discounted the Cliff Walk socks due to the lace pattern, but looking back through this time, they actually ticked the boxes!
Yarn
I had 40g of Coop Knits Socks Yeah! left over from my Shell Cottage Socks. Since I made these in 2019, I've worn them a lot and they have held up marvellously. No pilling or shrinking at all! It costs about £6 for 50g, so I feel this is excellent value if I can get a pair of shorties out of a skein. Out of all the sock yarn I've used so far, this one is by far the best for socks in terms of longevity as well as comfort. These pairs are in the Axinite shade.
I also used my Hiya Hiya sharps for these socks. I generally need to go up a needle size from recommendation to get gauge (which I did here) and I lean towards sharps when there is lace or twisted stitches at play because it's easier to get the tip through the loops.
(They aren't that sharp by the way! no punctured fingertips going on, just speedy knitting)
Pattern and Instructions
The pattern was initially part of a club, but is now available to buy on it's own from Ravelry for £5 (you can get all 6 patterns in an ebook for £15). Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade designed the collection around the English coastline and I have to say I really love the whole group.
Helen writes her patterns very specifically. There is a separate pattern for each size (Small, Medium, Large), and each round of the pattern is written out, along with percentages to let you know how far along you are. This means that it is very easy to keep track of where you are in the pattern and also keep an eye on yarn management at the same time (if you weigh what you have left as you go you'll know if you are going to run out or not).
As I was making shorties, I started with the cuff part of the pattern, but didn't knit it as long as it's meant to be (finished where it looked right). I then completed one round of plain knit before skipping right along to the heel part of the pattern. From here I followed the pattern all the way to the end. The lace panel from here on is only featured on the top of the foot. It's a 6 round repeat and moved along quite quickly. It wasn't a repeat that I could memorise so did need to consult the pattern each time and have it handy. Normally I 'relax' with a sock but that wasn't the case with this pattern and I knew I needed to have some concentration left in me for this small part of lace.
But they are shorties and I do make a size Small, with pattern only on the top, so still quite quick!
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