Marie Antoinette Socks

I admit it, I have a sock obsession! I didn't mean to become obsessed, it just worked out that way. I started by knitting a couple of pairs of wool socks to wear during the cold winter months, but it didn't stop there. Soon I would insist on wearing only hand knit merino wool socks and spend hours searching the web for patterns. It was in one of my pattern searching frenzies that I came across sock patterns on the knitspot.com site.

As I scrolled down through the patterns, I came across the Marie Antoinette socks. The socks are knit from the top down with ornate, sculpted stitches and an open work beehive pattern running down the back of the leg to the heel. I must knit these socks!

When I received the pattern, I was a little intimidated by knitting from 2 different charts at the same time. I read through the entire pattern and the instructions were very clear. I have knit several of Anne Hanson's designs in the past and have always had great results, so I didn't expect anything less this time.

I grabbed my Karbonz double point needles and the String Theory BFL yarn that I purchased from the Knitting Sisters and started knitting. The instructions for the cuff were different from the usual sock cuff. The cuff is knit by using a provisional cast-on and knitting over 8 stitches and repeating the pattern until the cuff reaches the required length. The cuff ends are grafted together and the sock is knit in the round.

Marie Antoinette sock.

Beehive pattern on the back of the leg and heel.

Sculpted stitches