Sporty No-show Socks Pattern

In the summer my partner almost exclusively wears no-show socks. Because he wears through the ball of his socks very quickly I've added extra reinforcement and padding to that area using slipped stitches. He also wants his socks to fit snuggly around his foot; therefore I added ribbing to the arch of the sock.

Skills Required/Techniques Used

Knit & purl, cast-on, short-rows, kitchener stitch/grafting, & working in the round.

Yarn

CYC #1 Super Fine.

Sock shown knit in: 

Patons Kroy Socks (75% Superwash Wool, 25% Nylon); 166 yds/152 m; 1.76 oz/50 g:

MC - Sing'n the Blues; 1 skein,

CC - Grey Marl; 1 skein.

Needles

US 1/2.25 mm needles for working small circumference in the round: DPNs, 2 circulars or 1 long circular. 

Or size needed to obtain gauge.

Notions

Stitch markers (M); stitch holder; tapestry needle.

Gauge

32 sts and 44 rnds = 4 in/10 cm square in stockinette stitch using US 1/2.25 mm needles worked in the round.

Size Information

Sizes

First (second, third, fourth)

Finished Measurements

Sock circumference, not stretched: 6.5" (7.5", 8.5", 9.5") [16.5, 19, 21.5, 24 cm]. 

Sock circumference should be approximately 10% smaller than your actual foot/ankle circumference.

Leg length: Adjustable to fit.

Foot length: Adjustable to fit. Finished length should be about ½"/1.3 cm shorter than actual foot length.

The sock shown measures 7.5"/19 cm sock circumference, and 9.5"/24 cm foot length.

Stitches

TSK (Twin Stitch Knit)

With your right needle, come through the back of the right leg of the stitch below the first stitch on the left needle. Place this loop onto the left needle and knit it. Pass the stitch back to the left needle. Now you have a pair of "twin" stitches on the left needle. 

TSP (Twin Stitch Purl)

Pass one stitch from the left needle to the right needle. Insert the left needle up through the purl bump under the first stitch on the right needle and purl this stitch. Slip the twin stitches from the right needle to the left.

DS (Double Stitch)

With yarn in front slip 1 st purlwise, bring yarn over the needle pulling the slipped stitch tight so that the legs of the previous stitch are on the needle, creating what looks two stitches on the needle, knit/purl the next stitch normally.

Directions

Cuff

Using US Size 1/2.25 mm needles and MC, CO 52 (60, 68, 76) sts using a long-tail or preferred cast on. Distribute across needles as you prefer and join work in the round, being careful not to twist. Place marker or note start of round.

Work *K1, P1* ribbing until the piece measures 1"/2.5 cm from CO.

Leg

Rnds 1-5: Knit.

Knit until the piece measures 0.5"/1.3 cm from CO, or desired length to top of heel.

Heel

I have included instructions for a shadow wrap short row heel but feel free to use any heel you would like. 

This heel is worked back and forth across half of the leg stitches.

Setup: K26 (30, 34, 38) sts, place these stitches on hold. 

Change to CC.

Decrease Rows

Row 1 (RS): K9 (10, 12, 13), PM, K8 (10, 10, 12), PM, K8 (9, 11, 12), TSK, turn.

Row 2 (WS): P24 (28, 32, 36), TSP, turn.

Row 3 (RS): Knit to 1 stitch before twin stitch from previous row, TSK, turn.

Row 4 (WS): Purl to 1 stitch before twin stitch from previous row, TSP, turn.

Repeat rows 3-4 - 7 (8, 10, 11) more times until 9 (10, 12, 13) stitches on each side of the heel are twin stitches and ending with a WS row.

Increase Rows

Row 1 (RS): Knit to the first twin stitch after the center stitches, Knit the twin stitches together, TSK next twin stitch (it will be a triplet), turn.

Row 2 (WS): Purl to the first twin stitch after the center stitches, Purl the twin stitches together, TSP the next twin stitch (it will be a triplet), turn.

Repeat rows 1-2 until you have one twin stitch on each side unworked.

Row 1 (RS): Knit to twin stitch, Knit twin stich together, TSK the next instep stitch, turn.

Row 2 (WS): Purl to twin stich, Purl twin stich together, TSP the next instep stitch, turn.

Break CC.

Foot

I have added a section of 1x1 ribbing to the arch of the foot to help the sock fit tighter. You can omit this section if you want.

Setup Rnd: Using MC, Knit across heel. BOR. Knit around, making sure to knit the twin stitches at the beginning and end of instep together with their twins.

Rnds 1-11: Knit.

Rnds 12-26: [K1, P1] around.

Rnds 27-37: Knit.

Reinforced Sole

The reinforced sole is created by slipping every other stitch and alternating rounds. This creates a thick dense fabric that cushions the sole and helps reduce wear.

Because the slipped stitch fabric has a different row gauge than the stockinette used for the instep, short rows have been added to compensate for the difference. You can use the short row method of your choice but I found that German short rows worked well.

Rnd 1: Knit across instep, [Sl1, K1] repeat across sole, turn.

Rnd 2: DS, P1, [Sl1, P1] across sole, turn.

Rnd 3: DS, K1, [Sl1, K1] across sole.

Rnd 4: Knit across instep, [K1, Sl1] across sole.

Rep Rnds 1-4 until the foot measures 1.60" (1.80", 2.20", 2.40") [4.06, 4.57, 5.59, 6.10 cm] less than the desired foot length, ending with a Rnd 4.

Toe

The toe is worked as a standard wedge toe but I only do one knit st, instead of the more common two knit sts, between decreases to reduce the size of the bands running along the toe.

Rnd 1: Knit. 

Rnd 2: K1, SSK, knit to 3 sts before end of instep, K2tog, K1, SSK, knit to 2 sts before end of heel, K2tog — 4 sts dec'd.

Repeat rnds 1-2 a total of 8 (9, 11, 12) times, for a total of 16 (18, 22, 24) rows — 20 (24, 24, 28) sts rem.

Break yarn leaving a 12"/30 cm tail.

Kitchener remaining stitches.

Note: When doing the Kitchener stitch don't do the first two setup stitches. Then, when you have one st rem on each needle, slip the st on the front needle off and then slip the st on the back needle off without working them.

Finishing

Weave in the loose ends. Block if desired.

© Alaksya, 2021

Version 1, August 2021

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