Knit Socks with Gate-Inspired Colorwork

I’ll admit to not totally understanding the appeal of fancy knit socks. I enjoy knit socks (both wearing and knitting them), but my socks are generally super simple, stockinette or a basic textured stitch pattern. For me socks are all about warmth and comfort and much less about how they look.

But then I come across a pattern like Palace Gate by Tiina Kuu, and I wonder if I should rethink my position on fancy knit socks.

These lovely socks include colorwork inspired by the gates of Buckingham Palace (they were designed in memory of Quenn Elizabeth II). The rest of the sock has a pretty textured stitch pattern. There’s even a little picot cuff for extra frills.

The pattern uses two colors of sock yarn (choose high contrast colors so the gate really pops) and uses a chart for the colorwork sections. The socks are worked from the top down and feature a strong heel.

The pattern is available in four sizes, ranging from 60 stitches to 78 stitches.

It’s available as a free download on Ravelry, or you can get a pay what you want version from PayHip.

If you’re new to knitting colorwork, you might want to know more about color dominance in knitting. Since the gate is the part you want to stand out, you’d want to work with that color to the left, whatever that means for the way you knit colorwork.

Want more Queen-inspired knits? This collection of Queen Elizabeth II knitting patterns was put together for her Jubilee, but they are still great patterns to stitch in her memory. Or how about knitting a royal corgi?

[Photo: Tiina Kuu.]

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I happen to live in the Northern Hemisphere, but I know we have a lot of Southern Hemisphere friends, too, who are heading into the cooler months as we are warming up. Whichever one of the seasons you’re in, you might want to stitch up this sweet little hood.

This pattern by saskie&co is called snug hood and it uses two colors of yarn to make a close-fitting pixie style hood (almost a balaclava but it doesn’t cover your face, though there is a neck covering portion to keep you a little warmer). You can use the fingering weight wool and mohair held together that are called for in the pattern, or use a single strand of DK weight yarn.

The neck portion and the edging around the face are worked in ribbing in a single color, while the body of the hat includes an allover colorwork flower pattern. The project is worked both flat and in the round and there is colorwork that is knit flat, which means you’ll have to purl in colorwork (which some people don’t like; also, you can’t see what you’re doing as well on the back of the work).

The pattern comes in one size and the colorwork is charted. Testers noted this is a quick and easy project and a great way to learn some new skills (chart reading, working stranded colorwork flat) if you’ve never tried those things before. They noted the hood is cute, comfortable and warm, and a few said it didn’t take as much yarn as the pattern suggests, so bear that in mind if you’re trying to use stash.

Speaking of the pattern notes, check out all the cute color variations in the projects on Ravelry. From pink and red to blue and white to gray and cream, there are lots of great options to think about.

You can buy this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: saskie&co]

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