On Sock Sizing; Worsted Weight Toe-Up Sock Pattern

I had an email last week from someone looking for sock patterns for small feet.

I say this often: every designer gives something away about her/himself in their designs. For me, it's that I'm petite. And that extends to my size 6ish (US; size 4 UK) feet. They are just on the smaller size of average.
This means that I can often do well at shoe sales - and that I have benefited from optimistic shoe shoppers who have bought a size smaller hoping it would fit (again, many thanks to N's Mum who bought the wrong size, and has gifted me with a lovely pair of shiny red shoes).

A very good, very tall friend of mine has a size 10 1/2 foot. The idea of one-size-fits all socks seems pretty silly to me - especially when you're going to the trouble of knitting them, they may as well fit you properly.

I am, therefore, very careful to ensure that any sock pattern I publish comes in multiple sizes. (And I work very hard to enforce this at Knitty, too. I've only let one one-size-fits-all sock pattern get by me... Skew. Both the designer and I are mathematicians, and neither of us could figure out the numbers. Be prepared if you submit a sock pattern to Knitty, I will demand multiple sizes!)

Which brings me to my latest design: a worsted-weight toe-up sock that comes, naturally, in three sizes.

Available at Patternfish, Ravelry, and The Naked Sheep.

I designed this to be an intro to toe-up sock knitting - so top-down knitters could see what all the fuss is about! I use the wonderous Judy's Magic Cast-on, and its soulmate, Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off. A single skein of Cascade 220 (or equivalent worsted weight yarn) very quickly makes a nice pair of socks.