Elementary Watson Socks – Finally, The Pattern

This entry contains the full text and pictures from the PDF pattern, available for free through Ravelry here, with a bit of extra blathering since formatting is less critical. Ever since getting an iPad my appreciation for web patterns vs fixed-format PDFs has skyrocketed, so I decided to make this available in both formats. As a former technical writer and all-around persnickety person, I think the pattern should be error-free, but it is still my first published pattern and I welcome feedback, either in comments here or at my blog/Ravelry name @gmail.com.


These socks were inspired by the cabled pullover that Dr. John Watson wears in the BBC’s Sherlock(2010). They’re elementary because it’s dead simple to keep track of the pattern — the two motifs are the same number of rows, and all the cables get crossed on the same rows. You’ll be memorizing the chart in no time. Two sizes appear separately because adapting the men’s sock for girl-sizing — what I’m calling the “cosplay” version — added some extra steps.

The cable and flying geese motifs alternate all the way around the sock. This means the stitch counts differ between front and back. This pattern describes one needle for the instep/front of leg (needle 1) and one needle for the sole/back of leg (needle 2). Magic Loop or 2 circulars work equally well. If you prefer DPNs you are a knitting god/dess and can sort out for yourself how to distribute the stitches.

If you don’t already know how to cable without a cable needle, this is a good project to try it out.

Yarn: Approx. 300 (375) yards (80 to100 g) light fingering weight yarn. Cherry Tree Hill undyed Possum Sock yarn is pictured. Also recommended: Arucania Ranco or any sock yarn with good yardage. If you can find undyed, unbleached yarn that will be your best chance for a color match.

Needle: 2.5mm (US 1.5) or size needed to obtain gauge.

Gauge: 8 sts and 11.5 rows per 1”

Glossary

k – knit
k2tog -knit 2 stitches together
LLinc – Left-Lifted Increase
M1 – make 1 increase (lifted bar should be knitted tbl)
p – purl
p2togtbl – purl 2 together tbl
pm – place marker
RLinc – Right-Lifted Increase
sm – slip marker (It’s assumed that markers are always slipped, but sometimes stated explicitly.)
ssk – slip slip knit (decrease by reorienting 2 sts on needle then knitting tbl)
st – stitch
tbl – through the back loop

 

Men’s Size

Toe
Cast on 12 stitches on each needle using Judy’s Magic Cast-On. 24 sts total. Knit one round, placing a marker after the 6th stitch on needle 2. The marker indicates the center of the sole, and will be needed for the heel turn.

Row 1: k1, RLinc, k to last st on needle, LLinc, k1. Repeat for needle 2.
Row2: k all stitches

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have 38 stitches per needle, for a total of 76 stitches.

Work one more set of increases on needle 1 ONLY – knit across needle 2. 40 stitches on the instep needle and 38 on the sole needle.

Begin working the instep chart on needle 1, knitting across needle 2 for the sole. Work straight until the unstretched sole has approximately 4” before reaching the back of the heel, ending on a row 12.

Gusset increases
Setup row: Work needle 1 in pattern. For needle 2: RLinc, pm, k to last st of needle, pm, LLinc. Gusset will be worked only on needle 2 – work needle 1 in pattern throughout.

Row 1 Needle 2: k all stitches
Row 2 Needle 2: k to marker, RLinc, sm, k to next marker, sm, LLinc, k to end of needle. The increased stitch always goes outside the marker, while the original stitch the increase is worked into remains inside the marker.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 for 3 full repeats of the instep chart, ending with needle 1 of row 12. 18 gusset stitches on each side.

Heel
The heel begins on needle 2 of a row 12.
Setup rows: k to 2 sts past the center marker, k2tog, k1, turn. Sl 1, p to 2 sts past the center marker, p2togtbl, p1, turn.

Row 1: Sl 1, k to 1 st before the gap, k2tog, k1, turn.
Row 2: Sl 1, p to 1 st before the gap, p2togtbl, p1, turn.

Repeat these two rows until all sts are used up on a knit row. Resume knitting in the round.

Leg
Setup rows:
Needle 1: Work in pattern, continuing to use the instep chart. You should be on chart row 1.
Needle 2: Work row 1 of the back of leg chart, BUT, make the following changes: Begin with k1, ssk, and when you get to the purl on either side of the two-stitch cable in the middle, work them as p2tog instead. Three sts decreased to arrive at the correct count for the back of leg chart (38 sts on needle 2).

Knit according to the charts for the instep (needle 1) and back of leg (needle 2). Work a total of 5 chart repeats or amount desired/allowed by yardage, ending after a Row 12.

Work p1, k1 ribbing for 12 rows. Bind off using Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bindoff or Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bindoff.

The Cosplay Version (Women’s Sizing)

The cables in the pattern give this sock significant negative ease, which is the fancy way of saying that I tried on my husband’s sock, and the leg fit. Then I tried it on a skinny girlfriend, just to be sure it still fit, and it did.

To make the foot narrow enough for a woman the sole will be the standard 32 stitches, while the instep uses the same 40 stitch chart as the men’s version. Increasing to 40 stitches on needle 1 before starting the instep chart would make the toe baggy, so there is a new chart for toe increases. Since you are increasing in pattern, several different increases are used depending on what the new stitch should look like. Kfb is used when the new stitch will be a purl, because the horizontal line created by this increase resembles a purl. M1 is used to make a knit stitch between two purl stitches, and a left-lifted increase is used when you already have a knit stitch to be its parent.

Other changes from the men’s sizing: the gusset is smaller for the cosplay version, and in order to have enough stitches for the back of leg pattern, there is an increase row immediately after the heel turn.

Toe
Cast on 8 stitches on each needle using Judy’s Magic Cast-On. 16 sts total. Knit one round, placing a marker after the 4th stitch on needle 2. The marker indicates the sole needle, and will be needed for the heel turn.

Row 1: k1, RLinc, k to last st on needle, LLinc, k1. Repeat for needle 2.
Row2: k all stitches

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have 32 stitches per needle, for a total of 64 stitches.

Work the toe increase chart on needle 1, knitting across needle 2 for the sole.

Begin working the instep chart (scroll up – it’s the same as the men’s sock) on needle 1, knitting across needle 2 for the sole. Work straight until the unstretched sole has approximately 3” before reaching the back of the heel, ending on a row 12.

Gusset increases
Setup row: Work needle 1 in pattern. For needle 2: RLinc, pm, k to last st of needle, pm, LLinc. Gusset will be worked only on needle 2 – work needle 1 in pattern throughout.

Row 1 Needle 2: k all stitches
Row 2 Needle 2: k to marker, RLinc, sm, k to next marker, sm, LLinc, k to end of needle. The increased stitch always goes outside the marker, while the original stitch the increase is worked into remains inside the marker.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 for 2 full repeats of the instep chart, ending with needle 1 of row 11. 11 gusset stitches on each side.

Heel
The heel for this size begins on needle 2 of a row 11.
Setup rows: k to 2 sts past the center marker, k2tog, k1, turn. Sl 1, p to 2 sts past the center marker, p2togtbl (or just p2tog), p1, turn.

Row 1: Sl 1, k to 1 st before the gap, k2tog, k1, turn.
Row 2: Sl 1, p to 1 st before the gap, p2togtbl, p1, turn.

Repeat these two rows until two stitches remain unworked after a row 2. Knit across all stitches including the two which had not been worked previously, and resume knitting in the round.

Leg
Setup rows:
Needle 1: Work in pattern, continuing to use the instep chart. You should be on chart row 12.
Needle 2: (K4, LLinc) 3 times, k8, (LLinc, k4) 3 times. This evenly increases 6 stitches to arrive at the correct stitch count for the back of leg chart (38 sts on needle 2).

Knit according to the charts for the instep (needle 1) and back of leg (needle 2). Work a total of 5 chart repeats or amount desired/allowed by yardage, ending after a Row 12.

Work p1, k1 ribbing for 12 rows. Bind off using Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bindoff or Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bindoff.

More About The Gusset

The men’s gusset is 18 stitches on either side — increasing every other row for three full chart repeats.

If you’ve never worked a Fleegle heel before, this is what the sock will look like after your increases are finished, when you’re ready to work back and forth to close up the back of the heel. The instep should come quite high on your foot, practically to your leg, and the sole should reach straight to the back of your heel, slightly stretched.

The blue marker is for the center of the heel. You placed this one all the way back at the first row after casting on. The purple markers delineate the sole stitches between them, and the gusset stitches outside them. Count to verify you have the right number before beginning the heel turn!

The women’s gusset is worked over two chart repeats, but instead of equalling 12 gusset stitches you will only have 11. The heel turn for this size begins a row early, so that when you finish working back and forth and resume working in the round, you will work row 12 on needle 1, and then have the plain row on needle 2 to work the increases needed to get you to the correct stitch count for the back of leg chart.

The row gauge makes each 12 row chart repeat approximately 1” of sole length. Since it is important to come out of the heel turn ready to begin a new chart repeat (otherwise you’d cut off the bottom of the V in the flying geese motif) the length of the foot is not easily adjustable in less than 1” increments. I recommend placing a lifeline before beginning the gusset, just in case the sole ends up too long or too short and you want to go back to start the gusset one chart repeat sooner or later. Learn from my error!

Honestly, while I think this is the easiest heel to execute in and of itself, in this pattern it’s not as flexible as I’d like for getting a perfect fit on the foot. I ended up doing five chart repeats before beginning the gusset on both Mr. Texturedknitter’s socks and my own. His has three charts of gusset increases, whereas mine has only two… plus, on the women’s sock the patterning starts before the toe increases are complete, which subtracts a bit more length from the foot.

I entirely support the idea of using a short row heel instead, if you want finer control over the length of the foot and if you don’t need the extra ease that gusset stitches provide. Similarly, an afterthought heel could be worked without disturbing the pattern. I’m not very keen on the look of a slip stitch heel flap right next to cables, but hey, do whatever makes your sock fit the foot it’s meant for. (I think there may be a proverb in there somewhere.)

As a final note, I tried and tried to get a picture of these socks against my dining room wall, because it demonstrates how my love of the wallpaper at 221B is non-ironic:

Alas, it’s really hard to get a picture that contains both socks and a good portion of wall. I did try having Mr. Texturedknitter lay on the floor and put his feet up on the wall. It looked weird. If I had made a sweater or a scarf I might’ve had better luck. (See what I did there? Go check out the other great stuff the Sherlock fans have made!)

Elementary Watson Sock knitting pattern by Sherry Menton (texturedknitter) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.