Designer Laura says: I love the colors of the Bamboozle Circus Print, and had this funny bubble design in mind. The design shown is done with a solid and a variegated yarn, but would be just as much fun with only solids or all variegated.

Materials
2 - 50 gr balls ea variegated and solid Bamboozle (bamboo blend)
Crystal Palace DPN Needles #1.5 US [2.5 mm] 
Bamboozle colors used in sample socks: #9575 "circus", #2342 "sprite green" & #402 "ember glow"

Size: Ladies M-L (US size 8, with ~9.25 in foot length).
Hints for size changes are in the Pattern box below.
Gauge: 7.75sts/in (31 st/10 cm) over St st

Instructions:
A. Rollbrim sock top:
(if you prefer a different top, go ahead and use your favorite).
With the #1.5 US (2.5 mm) needles and color B (the solid), cast on 70 st.
Do not join. Purl 1 row; join being careful not to twist. Place marker. Now knit for ~8 rounds, until the knitting is ~ 1 in [2.54 cm] from your cast on.
Join color A, the variegated yarn, and purl 1 round. Now knit 1 round with color B, and again purl 1 round with color A.
Begin the pattern.

B. The Sock body: begin the pattern. Work to desired length, ending at either round 10 or 20. For the model socks, the design ended on round 10 with sock-leg lengths of 3.5 to 5.5 in (~8.89 to 13.97 cm). These could easily be made longer, to ~ 7.5 in (18.41 cm) from cast on if a longer sock is desired.

Bubbles

The Bubble pattern
Notes: You can designate either solid or Variegated as Color A; just be consistent for the whole sock. The green model has Solid as A and variegated as B; the orange model is reversed.
To change sizes, work with 20 st multiples, or place extra stitches at the back, as done here.

It is recommended that you practice a swatch in Bubble Pattern before you begin the actual sock.

Bubbles 1:
Rounds 1-3: K color A. Round 4: K color B.
Round 5: with color B, k 17, turn. *( P8, turn; K7, turn; P6, turn; K5, turn; P4, turn; K20).
Repeat around the sock, except when you cannot do another K20, just K the remainder to marker.
Rounds 6-10: k color A.

Bubbles 2:
Rounds 11-13: K color B. Round 14: K color A.
Round 15: with color A, k8, turn, P5, turn; k4, turn; p4, turn. *(K20, turn; p8, turn, k7, turn, p6, turn, k5, turn, p4, turn); repeat the *instructions until you are close to the end of round (EOR) marker. When you cannot knit another K20, work a K8 and turn, exactly as you did for the row start.
Rounds 16-20: K color B.
Repeat these 20 rows for desired length. End on Round 10 or 20.

Note: while there are methods to avoid holes in short row turning, I found that pulling the yarn tightly worked the best. With this yarn, the small amount of lycra will facilitate tugging.

C. The Heel.
The green and circus heel is a traditional Nordic twined heel. If you prefer, work your own favorite heel.
Prepare for the heel: The heel will be worked over ~1/2 the sts (36). Using both colors A and B, k across 18 st alternating k1A, k1B.. Turn and purl back across 36 st, while continuing to alternate the st color. Place the remaining st on a holder or piece of waste yarn for later.
The heel shown is worked with alternate A and B yarns, using a method called "twining". It's official Swedish name is Twaandsticknung (see how to on Knitty.com here), and this goes back to about 1500 AD, based on extant museum samples. What you do is simple: twist the yarns at every st. This makes the heel firm yet stretchy and very durable [also warm].
The method actually calls for you to work with both yarns in the right hand, so if you're expert at stranding this will initially seem awkward. Work the heel in alternate checks as shown until it is 2.75 in (6.985cm) from the start. (Longer heels provide better fit in socks and longer wear).

Details for the heel.
1. Front: using both color A and color B, k1A, k1B across.
You will NOT slip the first stitch of every row with a twined heel. Turn.
2. Back: P1B, P1A, across. You should be alternating color from the adjacent st and the one in previous row as shown below.
XOXOXO
OXOXOX
3. Repeat these two rows until the heel is 2.75 in desired length.

Turning the heel
With color B ONLY, knit across 1/2 + 2 of the stitches, k2tog, k1, turn.
Purl 5, p2tog, p1, turn
Knit to 1 st before the "gap"; k2tog, k1, turn
Purl to 1 st before the "gap"; p2tog, p1, turn.
Repeat the knit and purl, as established until you have worked all the stitches.
You always knit across to 1 st before the "gap", then knit that st and the one after the gap
together, k1, turn. Similarly, you purl across to 1 st before the "gap", then purl that st and the one after the gap together, p1 turn.
End on the wrong side, ready to knit the front side.

D. The Gusset pickups.
1. With color of your choice, and a new needle, k across ½ of the st; this is needle three.
2. Now, with a new needle (needle 1), k across the rest of the row and then pick up and knit each stitch going down the side of the sock.
Because you twined the heel you will note that you have alternating solid and var. st on the side. Start the pickups with the color immediately below the active row on needle 1, and pick up ONLY that color all the way down. When you are 1 st away from the st on the instep needle, you will want to reach into that yarn between your right and left needles (from the back if you can) and pick up a loop from a row below. Twist this loop and put it onto the left needle, and now knit the new loop with the first instep st. This helps to avoid the gusset hole.
3. Knit across the instep st.
4. Now pick up and knit the st. along the side going up the heel. You will again want to M1 between the right needle and your first pick up st, to pull up and prevent a gusset hole. When you have picked up all your st., knit the last ½ of the st you reserved earlier.
5. Now, stop and take stock. You should have the same # st on the #1 and #3 needles. Sometimes there is a stitch difference, which you can just ignore, or work in with the gusset decreases.

E. Gusset decreases. For most people, you can ensure a better fit if you knit around for at least one row before beginning your gusset decreases back to your starting 60 st.

Note 5: For a well-fitting sock, measure around your instep. Mine is smaller than my ankle so I decrease to 4 fewer st than I had at my cast-on. This is also why I use more st in the heel than on the instep.
Decrease Pattern, Round 1:
Needle 1: Knit to the last 3 st, k2tog, k1.
Needle 2: Knit across.
Needle 3: K1, Sl-1, K1, pass slip stitch over [psso]; knit across the remaining st.

Decrease Pattern, Round 2: Knit all needles plain, with no changes in stitch count. Repeat these two rows until you return to your desired st. number.

F. Foot patterns.
The foot is simply striped alternately with the solid or variegated yarns.
I used "Fibonacci" numbers, as these are pleasing to the eye.
That means work in rounds of 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, or 13 between color changes.
Keep an eye on the foot length as you knit. You want to knit the foot until it is ~1.5-2 in {5.08 cm) from your longest toe, in this case 7.25 in.
Note: my actual foot length is 9 in, but because I can't abide a sock with a too-tight toe, I always knit that extra 1/4 inch in length. I am convinced that this also compensates for several years of wash-and-wear and any minor shrinkage over time.
.
G. The Toe.
Recheck your foot measurement from the back of your heel to the end of your longest toe.
This is a simple round toe, worked with only 1 strand of your chosen color. Check your stitch arrangement. You want 1/2 st on needle #2, and the other 1/2 of the st is split between needles #1 and 3.

The toe is worked thus, alternating rounds:
Decrease Round 1:
on needle 1, work to the last 3 st, k2tog, and k1;
on needle 2, k1, sl-1, k1, psso. Work to the last 3 st on the needle, and k2tog, k1.
For needle 3: k1, sl-1, k1, psso and work to the end of the needle.
Plain Round 2: knit across all needles with no st changes.

Alternate these two rows until you have 8-12 st remaining and then close with your favorite closure. (For a "leader foot" - with a 2nd toe longer than big toe, the gathered closure is most comfortable.)

Bamboozle Bubble Socks Designed and Knit by Laura Andersson, Ph.D

Laura is the editor (and author-designer) of Friendly Socks, Vol.1 & Vol. 2, Friendly Socks, Vol 2: A-Z and was recently released; a 3rd set Friendly Socks, Vol. 3, Fifty States, is in progress and planned for 2007 release. Information about these books can be found at http://siriusknitting.blogspot.com or www.siriusknitting.com . Laura is the owner of Sirius Knitting Publications and can be reached at
drlaura -at- siriusknitting.com (change the -at- to @ to send email, we do this to help drlaura avoid spam).

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