Ol’ Reliable Top Down Socks and Free Pattern by Tanis Lavallee

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I knit these Ol’ Reliable Top Down Socks for myself using a self-striping yarn. After knitting a bunch of teeny tiny toddler socks for Kenji and all his friends, I decided to finally knit some socks for myself. I’ve been putting off knitting myself socks because our Oma has knit dozens for socks for us over the years, and we keep darning them. Even though she passed away about ten years ago, her socks live on!

Ol’ Reliable Top Down Socks is a good, so-called ‘vanilla’ pattern. I didn’t want to add any significant texture or fancy stitch patterns because I wanted the self-striping yarn to be the focus.

The Ol’ Reliable Top Down Socks are a free pattern by Tanis Lavallee. As the name states, this is a top-down sock pattern, starting with 1×1 rib. After knitting the cuff and ankle length, you knit the heel flap. In previous socks I’ve knit, the heel flap is just a flat piece of stockinette. In these socks, however, you knit the heel flap using a slipped stitch pattern. This adds a second layer of yarn to the heel for strength and structure, but also some visual interest.

For my own socks, I knit 15 rounds of 1×1 ribbing. I then knit 50 rounds of the leg before starting the heel flat. After shaping the heel and knitting the gusset, I knit 50 rounds of the foot before working the toe decreases. I was able to knit one whole sock while on vacation in Cuba, and I knit the second sock in just a couple days once I returned home. From start to finish, this pair of socks took me 9 days to finish.

Thankfully these socks only contained four ends total to weave in at the end, despite the eye-catching colours!

I used Whole Knit n’ Caboodle Striped Sock yarn for these socks. This is an indie-dyed yarn that Ryan bought me from Common Thread Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, New York. The yarn is a blend of merino and nylon, and the colours are beautifully vibrant. Furthermore, the yarn is super soft. I’ve only ever worn knit socks from my Oma, and she used sturdy German sock yarn that was definitely not merino. I’m not sure how hard-wearing the merino will be, but we’ll see.

This colourway is called Peacock, and it has different length repeats of lime green, sage green, turquoise, and navy. I feel like the colours almost glow! As always, I was worried about running out of yarn. However, once I finished the socks, I found that I have quite a bit of yarn leftover. Maybe even enough to knit a pair for Kenji! I could have added twenty or so rounds of the leg to add a bit of length, especially since the skeins of yarn are quite generous.

Check out my other projects using patterns by Tanis Lavallee:

• Gartrell Crew for Kenji

See a bunch of other free sock patterns in our roundup here.

Get the free Ol’ Reliable Top Down Sock pattern on Ravelry here.