Summer is the perfect sock knitting season, they are an incredibly portable project, you don’t have a huge blanket of wool draping on your lap like when you are knitting a sweater, and the sock yarn is amazingly lightweight and airy. Today’s Quickies pattern is an elegant Smocked Rib Stitch sock from designer Marina Storm. Ring Socks are written for sizes Toddler to Adult Large, so you can work up a pair for everyone you know. The sample sock is shown in Malabrigo Sock in Botticelli Red. 

Marina shared with us a little bit about her design process and some special details about this pattern.

1: What is your favorite part of your Quickies design and why?

My favorite part of my Ring Socks is both the playful aspect of the knit stitches that create some cute lines around the purl stitches and the wonderful Smocked Rib Stitch that makes the ribbing around the leg interesting but still stable.

2: What should knitters pay attention to when working this pattern? Do you have any tips or tricks that will make knitting this pattern easier?

They should try the sock on as they knit. They should also be sure to follow my advice on where to place the afterthought section. Also, if they find that the heel does not fit comfortably and they want to change its depth, my advice is to work some even rounds—up to an inch or so—before starting the decrease rounds.

3: What does your design process look like?

I get inspired by a stitch, a color, a piece of art or nature, and then I create a design in my mind and start the process! I knit a swatch with the stitches I imagine it with, to see if they match together and how they will look like at the end. If it is how I dreamt it, I wash and block the swatch and with the help of my spreadsheet I create the pattern, calculating the ease and all the sizes. Then I paste this info into a Word document, and I test knit it myself checking the calculations and adapting the pattern. Then I send it for tech editing and at the end for test knitting all the sizes.

4: What impact does the color of this project have on you? 

The stitch pattern and the color of the yarn are for me the most important things and they must match. I believe that either you focus on the texture or on the yarn. I wouldn’t use a very lacy project with a yarn full of speckles. The Malabrigo Sock yarn I used for my Ring Socks is amazing! Not only the quality of it, but also the color. It is a vibrant beautiful dark red and perfectly matches the pattern.

5: What is your favorite color in Malabrigo’s catalog?

Botticelli Red is one of my favorites! I also like Cereza, Magenta, Neverland, Frank ochre, Oro, Unicorn bark and all Malabrigo’s green and blues!

6: What is the one thing you wish people knew about you as a designer?

That I deeply love designing and they can count on me if they need any help.

You can find the Ring Socks Pattern on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ring-socks or on LoveCrafts. 

Follow Marina on IG @storm.knitting.art so that you don’t miss a pattern release.

Be sure to look out for the upcoming website: www.stormknittingart.com as well.