Colour Alchemy – A sock recipe

You remember my Colour Alchemy socks?

I showed them here a few days ago. They got the name Colour Alchemy because the small pattern I knitted beautifully transformed the colour gradient of the yarn. If you missed the post, you can find it here

How a stitch pattern can change the look of a self-striping yarn

I have now written down the pattern. Well, it is basically not a pattern, but rather a recipe. It explains how I made my pair of socks, but does not include basic instructions on how to knit socks. So, for example, you should already know how the needles on a set of DPNs (double-pointed needles) are numbered, how to knit a short-row heel and so on.

A word about the construction

The recipe can easily be customised for other sizes by casting on more or fewer stitches, knitting the leg and/or the foot shorter or longer.

The socks are knitted with a solid-colour short-row heel. Normally, the two transition rounds between the short-row and the extended-row section of the heel would create a single-coloured stripe on the front of the sock. I wanted to avoid that! The heel construction may therefore read a bit complicated at first glance, but it certainly becomes more logical once you start knitting.

Of course, you get the same effect if you knit the short-row heel without the transition rounds. But just keep in mind that this will change the fit of the heel.

With these socks I decided on a round toe. I used it for the first time and was amazed and delighted at how easy it is to knit and how nicely it fits my foot. But of course, you can use any other toe as well. Just go with what you like!

A word about the yarn

I used 6-ply sock yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mandola and Gründl Second Life.
Mandola is a self-striping yarn in orange, aubergine, fuchsia, dark grey and violet. Second Life is a single-coloured yarn in aubergine. Unfortunately, both yarns have since been discontinued.

The recipe works just as well with any other self-striping or colour-changing yarn! Just give it a go! The more colourful the yarn, the prettier the effect.

Get the recipe

• Colour Alchemy sock recipe