80s Retro

This is a sock pattern written especially for those who have never knitted socks before. It’s simple and easy to follow and it produces a ribbed fabric that will adapt to your foot even if you haven’t quite worked out your sock knitting gauge yet.

The 80s Retro socks are knitted from the toe up and have a German short row heel (one of the simplest ways to knit heels). I have included links to videos that will help you with the techniques you need to make the toe and heel.

MATERIALS

• 2.25 mm (US 1) circular needles, either 80 cm / 32” long (if you use the magic loop method), or 23 cm / 9” long (if you prefer short circulars) or DPNs (double-pointed needles). If you use short circular needles you’ll still need a long circular needle or DPNs for casting on and the toe increases until you have enough stitches to work comfortably on a shorter needle.
• 1 removable marker, tapestry needle.
  

YARN

Fingering or light fingering weight yarn (400–425 m / 437–465 yards per 100 g). You will need two colours. I used Feliz y Punto Sock 25 (75% merino and 25% nylon).

• Main colour (MC): 200-350m (218-385 yards). I used the Twighlight colourway (grey).
• Contrasting colour (CC): approx. 25-60m (27-65 yards). I used the Habana colourway (rust).
  

The amount of yarn you’ll need will depend on your sock and shoe size. To give you an idea, I used 200m of the main colour for a size M (see below), UK5 shoe size and 330m for a size L, UK9 shoe size.

SIZES

In the pattern I give three sizes based on your foot circumference around the widest part of the foot (more or less where your foot bends when you tip-toe).

Size S (small): 20-21 cm / 8”
Size M (medium): 22-24 cm / 9”
Size L (large): 25-26 cm / 10”

These sizes are based only on the width of your foot and not the length. The pattern will show you how to adapt the sock to your foot length.

GAUGE

It’s difficult to do a gauge sample for socks unless you knit a good chunk of a sock first, so I’ve designed these socks with a ribbed fabric so they will adapt to your foot even if you haven’t done a gauge sample first or your gauge isn’t perfect. I would recommend that, once you’ve knitted half the foot of the first sock, you measure your gauge (on the bottom/sole of the sock where you have stockinette stitch) to see if it’s close to the one for this pattern:

8 stitches in 2.5 cm (1”) in stockinette stitch

If you have fewer than 7 stitches, you should knit your next pair with smaller needles (2 mm/US 0).
If you have more than 9 stitches, you should knit your next pair with larger needles (2.5mm/US 1 1⁄2).

How to buy the pattern

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