Designer Notes: The yarn made me do it! I received some lovely samples of the new Panda Wool from Crystal Palace in early February: natural, cinnamon, and seascape. Of course, I already had Valentine's Day on my mind the instant I saw the reds; then the greens reminded me of Ireland and shamrocks!
The foot is worked in checkers, red-white, green-white, and then red-green. You could do stripes or even a solid foot if you prefer. There are also fun "cutouts" in the heart design. If you wish to omit these, just fill in and omit the 12th st. The resulting extra st can be placed at center back.

Materials:
Crystal Palace Panda Wool - 2 50 gr balls - #1015 - natural (MC), 1 ball each of #9798 - Cinnamon (CC1) and #061 - Seascape (CC2).
This will easily do 1 pr socks for an adult woman, with leftovers for more fun!
Crystal Palace Bamboo needles in sizes #3 US (3.25 mm- this size is used just for the leg due to colorwork bands); #2 US [2.75 mm], and #1.5 US {2.5 mm] - or size needed to obtain gauge.
I prefer the longer needles as I use 4 needles - 3 with stitches and 1 working.
Tapestry needle or crochet hook for working in the ends

Size: woman's M-L (~approx US size 7.5-8.5)
Gauge: 8 sts/in (32 st/10 cm)

Directions:
1. Cast on 72 st with MC (natural) & the intermediate size (#2 US) needles. .
2. Do not join; purl 1 row; now join, being careful not to twist. Place marker for end/beginning of round.
3. Work K2P2 ribbing for 1/2 in (or desired length) and join the red (CC1). Knit 3 rows K2P2 ribbing with CC1. Do not cut the (MC), but carry along by twisting this yarn with the CC1 working yarn at the beginning of each round.

4. Cut CC1 (leave an end of ~4-6 in to work in later) and pick up MC. K 3 rounds of ribbing with MC. Join CC2 (green) and K 3 rounds ribbing (carrying the MC up at the beginning of each round.
5. Cut CC2 and work in ribbing for an additional 5 rounds or until the rib is the desired length from your cast-on edge.

6. Now work in stockinette, K every round for 4 rounds and rejoin the red CC1.

7. Work 6 rounds of MC/CC1 checks as follows:
a) K2 CC1; K2 MC, around; repeat for another round.
b) K2 MC; K2 CC1, around; repeat for another round.
c) as round (a).

8. Cut the red CC1 and knit 4 rounds MC only.

9. Rejoin CC2, green; switch to your largest needles (#3 US), and begin Graph 1.
 

Remember NEVER to carry your non-working yarn over more than 3 st; I usually twist it with working yarn every 2nd or 3rd st to keep things loose.

10. After completion of Graph 1, work 4 rounds MC only, carrying CC2 up by twisting at the beginning of each round. (If you prefer, you may cut CC2, and rejoin later.)

11. Now work 6 rounds of green/white checks as follows:
a) K2 CC2; K2 MC, around; repeat for another round.
b) K2 MC; K2 CC2, around; repeat for another round.
c) as round (a).

12. Cut the CC2; with MC only, knit 4 rounds.
13. Rejoin red CC1 and work Graph 2. As noted previously, you may change the center white squares in the heart to red.

14. Rejoin CC2 and work 6 rounds checks with MC and both CC1 and CC2 as follows:
a) K2 CC2; K2 MC; repeat around and repeat for a 2nd round.
b) K2 MC; K2 CC1; repeat around and repeat for a 2nd round.
c) Work as for (a).
15. Cut the green CC2 and work the heel using CC1 only.

16. The Heel: the heel is worked on 1/2 +2 of the sts (38) with the remaining 34 st on a
holder. Knit across 19; turn and purl back 38. Place the remaining 34 st on a holder for later.
17. Front: *(SL 1, K1) across. Back: SL 1, *(purl across). Repeat these two rows until the heel is 2.5 in (~6.35 cm) from beginning, or desired length. End ready to start on the front side.

18. Turning the heel:
SL 1, knit 20, k2tog, k1, turn.
SL 1, purl 5, p2tog, p1, turn
SL 1, knit to 1 st before the 'gap'; k2tog, k1, turn
SL 1, purl to 1 st before the gap; p2tog, p1, turn.
Repeat the knit and purl, as established until you have worked all the stitches. End on the back ready to knit on the front side.

19. Gusset pickups:
a). With a new needle (to be ndl 3) k across ½ of the st.
b). Now, with a new needle (ndl 1), k across the rest of the row and then pick up and knit each stitch going down the side of the sock. 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.
c). Knit across the instep st.
d). 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.
e). 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.

20. 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 to return to your starting 72 st.
Note: 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.

Decrease Pattern, Round 1:
Ndl 1: Knit to the last 3 st, k2tog, and k1. Ndl 2: Knit across. Ndl 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.

As you can see from the photo, the gusset pickups and next 3 rows were all worked only with CC1.
You can continue to work with ONLY CC1, or change to the alternating checks of MC and CC1 as shown in the photo.

21. Repeat these two rows until you achieve your desired st. number.
22. Once you return to your starting st count [or desired # of st]; work the foot until it is approx. 2" from the end of your longest toe. Again, decide if you wish to work the foot in all 1 color, stripes, or the checks shown here.
In the model, I changed from MC and CC1 to CC2 at the end of the gusset decreases. I then continued to work checks with MC and CC2 until the sock was the desired length. The toe is worked in checks of CC1 and CC2

22. The Toe: Recheck your foot measurement from the back of your heel to the end of your longest toe. Knit the sock until it is approx. 1.5" from the desired final foot length. The toe shown here is a simple round toe. Check your stitch arrangement. You want at least half sts on ndl #2, and the other half of the sts is split between ndls #1 and 3.
The toe is worked thus, alternating rounds:
Decrease Round 1: Ndl 1 - work to the last 3 st, k2tog, and k1. Ndl 2 - k1, SL 1, psso. Work to the last 3 st on the needle, & k2tog, k1. Ndl 3 - k1, SL 1, psso; 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", that is a foot with a 2nd toe longer than big toe, the gathered closure is most comfortable.)

Hearts & Shamrocks Sock Designed and Knit by Laura Andersson, Ph.D

Laura is the editor (and author-designer) of Friendly Socks, Vol.1. The 2nd book in the series, Friendly Socks, Vol 2: A-Z and more 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).

Retail shops in the USA should contact CPY Wholesale for information on purchasing Crystal Palace Yarns and email cpyinfo -at- straw.com (replace the -at- with @)

or write to:
Crystal Palace Yarns, 160 23rd St., Richmond, CA 94804
phone: 510-237-9988,  fax: 510-237-9809