Introduction: The yarns were the inspiration and the challenge was allowing their beauty to show while having fun knitting. This design is fast and fun and, as you see, has the ability to work well with a variety of yarn color ways.

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

Materials:
Yarn: 3 - 50 gr balls each of Crystal Palace Panda Wool or Panda Cotton [Panda Wool has been replaced by Panda Superwash.]
Needles: Crystal Palace Bamboo in #1.5 US (2.5 mm) or size needed to obtain gauge.
Stitch Marker

Directions:
1. Cast on 72 st with desired yarn and appropriate needles.
2. Do not join; purl 1 row; now join round, being careful not to twist. Place marker for end/beginning of round.
3. Work K2P2 ribbing for 1-2 in (~2.54-5.08 cm) or desired length.
4. Start scallop pattern.

Scallops Pattern (12 st repeat)
Round 1: *[(K2tog) 2x, (yo, k1)3x, yo, (SL 1, K1, psso) 2x, K1]; repeat around.
Round 2: Knit around.
Rounds 3, 5, 7: repeat Round 1
Rounds 4, 6, 8, 10: repeat round 2.
Round 9: Purl around.

5. Work in pattern until the leg is ~5.5-6 in from start. End on row 10.
Note 1: for the last repeat nearing the ankle, you may choose to work round 9 as knit to avoid having a purl line right at the ankle.

6. The Heel: the heel is worked on 1/2 of the sts.
Knit across 12, turn and purl back 36. Place the remaining 36 st on a holder for later.
Note 2: This shifts the st so that the offset enables the design to be centered on the instep and foot and match the design on leg. .

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.

Turning the heel:
SL 1, knit 18, k2tog, k1, turn.
SL 1, purl 5, p2tog, p1, turn
SL 1, knit 6, k2tog, k1, turn
SL 1, purl 7, p2tog, p1, turn.
Repeat the knit and purl, as established until you have worked all the stitches.
Note 3: You always knit across to 1 st before the "gap", and then knit that st and the one after the gap together, k1, turn. Similarly, you purl across to 1 st before the "gap", and then purl that st and the one after the gap together, p1 turn.
End on the back ready to knit on the front side.

Gusset pickups:
1. With a new needle (to be ndl 3) k across ½ of the st.
2. 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.
3. Knit across the instep st.
4. 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 sts you reserved earlier.
5. Now, stop and take stock.
You should have the same # sts on the #1 and #3 needles. Sometimes there is a stitch difference, which you can just ignore, or work in with the gusset decreases.

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 back to your starting 72 sts.
Note 4: For a well-fitting sock, measure around your instep. Mine is smaller than my ankle so I decrease to 4 fewer sts 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.
Note 5: at this point, you need to decide if you are knitting the foot plain, or carrying the scallop design down the foot. If you ARE working it on the foot, then begin with Round 1 of the pattern. You will continue the pattern down the foot, keeping an eye on the length, as you begin the toe decreases at ~1.5 in (~3.81 cm) from longest toe. That means you want to end with round 10 of the scallop pattern before starting the toe.
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. Repeat these two rows until you achieve your desired st. number.
Note 6: my actual foot length is 9 in, but I can't abide a too-tight toe, so always knit that extra 1/4 inch in length. What's interesting is that this also compensates for several years of wash-and-wear and any minor shrinkage over time.
 
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 ~1.5 in. from the desired final foot length.
The toe shown here is a simple round toe. Check your stitch arrangement. You want at least 1/2 st on ndl #2, and the other 1/2 of the st 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 sts remaining and then close with your favorite closure.
(For a "leader foot" - with a 2nd toe longer than big toe, the gathered closure is most comfortable.)

Scallops 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 2009 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