Save 20% off The Spring Animal Collection, exclusively from my website (compared to buying all patterns individually at full price)

Save 20% off The Muddy Pig Collection, exclusively from my website (compared to buying all patterns individually at full price)

This pattern was written for my daughter. Since she was about three years old she has adored pigs (she is 25 now and the piggy love continues!) so when I started thinking about animals on socks I knew pigs would be near the top of the list. She was also the kind of little girl who loved playing outside splashing in puddles with her wellies on, so of course they had to be muddy pigs for her! The fact that the dark brown provides a lovely contrast color for the pattern is just an added bonus, and of course your pigs don’t have to be muddy, this is a great pattern to experiment with color and use mini skeins or any leftovers lurking in your stash – have fun!

Method: These stranded colorwork socks are knit in the round from the cuff down with a round heel and gusset decreases placed on the sole. These socks can be knitted on dpns, short circular (you will still need dpns for the heel and toe decreases), or by magic loop.
Please note the colorwork design in this pattern is charted not written out. You need to be prepared to read and work from charts in order to enjoy knitting this design.

Size: Although these socks are written for one size this is adjustable to a certain degree.
Firstly, to increase or decrease the foot circumference you can change the needle size (and therefore the tension) that you knit these socks at. Please note stranded colorwork does not have the same stretch to it that a plain stocking stitch sock does.
Secondly, to increase the leg and/or foot length you can work more plain MC rounds before or after knitting the charts, or between pattern bands. You can also repeat motifs from the charts (e.g. work an extra band of hearts).
Similarly, the leg and/or foot length can be decreased by working fewer plain rounds between the bands of motifs or by removing a pattern band completely.

Please bear in mind that any changes to size or tension will affect the amount of yarn required to knit these socks.

Yarn: You can use any 4 ply (fingering) sock yarn with which you can get gauge. Please note I do not recommend using yarns with a high cotton content as cotton doesn’t stretch as much as other fibers and this will affect the fit of your socks.
You will need at least two colors but the amounts of each color required will depend on how many colors you pick and where you choose to use them in the sock. For example, to work three colors using CC1 and CC2 throughout sock (as in pair shown)
MC – Approx. 170 metres, 186 yards
CC1 – Approx. 140 metres, 154 yards
CC2 – Approx. 100 metres, 110 yards.