I’m so excited to introduce you to my new shorties pattern. The Keep Shinin socks pattern has been keeping me company during the last few months and it is now available on Etsy. The fact that it’s the third sock pattern that I publish, still feels more like a dream than a real thing. But let’s face it, I’m an avid sock knitter and when my hands are busy knitting, my head does its creative thing. This sometimes leads to new ideas that in some cases, come up as a new pattern. It’s a journey. The Keep Shinin designing process was a long one and included quite a few trials and errors. I knitted FIVE socks till I had the final ‘shinin’ version on my feet.
This was the very first version and my photo gallery tells me this picture was taken at the end of November.
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’Keep smilin’, keep shinin’
Knowing you can always count on me for sureThat’s what friends are forFor good times and bad timesI’ll be on your side forever moreThat’s what friends are for…’
I had this song rolling in my head, singing itself over and over again and refusing to leave for weeks. It was during the time I designed this pattern and here’s where the name came from.
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The Keep Shinin is a top down shortie pattern that features a combination of lace, cable, and crochet bobbles. The short leg has four panels, with pairs of double crochet bobbles around the leg. The bobbles section is followed by a delicate cable pattern and they are both framed by a simple lace pattern. The cable stitch is then mirrored in the toe section.
Here’s some relevant information that you’ll need to know before diving into this happy knitting.Sizes and circumference
The Keep Shinin pattern includes 3 sizes 1, 2 & 3. The Finished upper leg for these sizes will come out: 7″, 8″ , 9″. I learned a lot about sock sizes and after years of knitting socks I found out that I prefer them to be smaller than my actual circumference. Simply because they get a lot bigger with use and I wear my hand knitted socks EVERY day.
Yarn
For the yarn I recommend that you use a classic 4 ply fingering sock wool which is a 75% superwash Merino and 25% Nylon. For my sample I used a VERY old wool I had here in my studio. It’s Tempo by Eden Cottage Yarn but unfortunately I lost the label and therefore I can’t tell you the name of the colour. One of my lovely test knitters used Régia Premium cashmere in 00001 white, 100g/400m. She used 61g/244m and she knitted hers with 2.5 mm needles.
Needles
I knitted my socks on 9″ circular needles in size 2.25 mm which is a US size 1. For the heel flap, heel turn and for the toe I used a 40″ long circular in the same size. You can knit the Keep Shinin socks in your prepared method such as magic loop or DPN’s. You will also need a crochet hook in the same size for the 4dc bobbles.
Gauge
My gauge was 30 sts x 40 rows = 10 x 10 cm / 4″ x 4″. One of my test knitters told me she used a 2.5 mm needle to achieve gouge so be open to try and see what needle size will fit your knitting. I started my sock knitting journey using a 2.5 mm needle only. But over the years I learned that the 2.25 gives me better results in the fit. I also just love the fabric that it creates.
What you’ll need
- Beginning of round marker + 2 additional stitch markers
- Cable Needle
- Tapestry needle
Special stitches and video tutorials
There are a few special stitches used in the Keep Shinin sock pattern. Although I included very detailed written instructions for a few special stitches within the pattern, I thought it would be helpful to include video tutorials as well. So in addition to what has already been shared on my YouTube channel I uploaded two new relevant videos. In this video I share how I crochet the 4dc bobble.
On the following video I share how I knit the Front and Back cables. Simple and easy.
Sock knitting note from me
I know that a lot of my followers here that follow me from the very early days are here mainly for crochet inspiration and patterns. But socks knitting has been part of my creative journey for years and as you know, I love sharing my creative journey with you.
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Some of you wrote me that you would love to learn how to knit socks but you feel it’s intimidating. So I just wanted to let you know that before I started to knit socks, it looked impossible to me. But once I picked up the needles I got hooked. I made SO many mistakes and I have unraveled my knitting million times. Give yourself this learning time, learning a new skill is SO GOOD. All you need to know is just the Knit and Purl stitches. 
There are excellent videos that you can learn from. Checkout this video from the Crazy sock lady channel, you might find it helpful. Hope to have more videos on my YouTube channel to help you along with the Keep Shining socks pattern soon. xxMo