Pinky toe, pinky sock

Item: Pink-striped wool socks
Yarn: Wool, two colours
Grams: 66 g

A classical pair of wool socks, knitted on double-pointed knitting needles, size 3mm. I've created the pattern on the go, following a traditional sock anatomy.

Cast on a suitable number of stitches, enough to fit the lower half of your calf. Usually this will be around 12-16 * 4 stitches, 12-16 stitches on each double-pointed needle. Start with a ribbing (k2, p2) for as long as you desire. This can continue all the way down to the heel, but in this particular sock it is only repeated for about 2 cm.

When the length of the leg is as long as you would like it to be, you need to create a heel flap. This is done by knitting forth and back on half of the stitches (12-16 * 2 stitches). When the heel flap is about 5 cm long, it's time to turn the heel. Then you need to pick up stitches along the side of the heel flap. You pick up a stitch for each second row in the heel flap, which should give you a total of more stitches than you initially cast on.

Now, the number of stitches need to be reduced. This is done by creating a gusset. The gusset is a "triangle" that is created by reducing the number of stitches incrementally, every other round. The gusset is marked by a blue triangle in the picture to the left. The gusset is a necessity in a sock in order to avoid crumpling across the ankle when in use. When the number of stitches once again is down to the same number of stitches you initially cast on, you can continue to knit the rest of the foot. Sometimes, of course depending on the foot, you'll require a few more stitches for the foot than you initially cast on.

Continue to knit the foot of the sock until it is of the desired length. When you try on the sock, it should reach approximately to the bottom of your pinky toe. By then you're ready to start decreasing for the toes.

This is accomplished by decreasing 1 stitch on each side of the sole and 1 stitch on each side of the instep (the top of the sock), thus decreasing 4 stitches on a single round. Then you need to knit a regular round before doing another decrease. For the last few rounds (approx. 5 last rounds) you need to do the decrease every round. When only 8 stitches remain (4 in the instep, 4 in the sole), you cut the yarn and pull it through the remaining stitches and tighten. Fasten all yarn ends.

Then you need to knit the other sock. Yuck.