I began knitting these cute socks back in February. Because when I’d finished knitting the Arne & Carlos Teddy Bear I still had most of a ball of this lovely Regia Design Line Arne & Carlos 3653 Star Night left. I decided to buy an additional ball of the sock yarn to give me enough yarn to knit a pair of socks. I had noticed when I was knitting the bear that the pattern repeat for this sock yarn was very long. So I decided not to worry about having identical matching socks.
I loved the colour of the blue 4ply yarn that I’d used for knitting the bear’s scarf. I’d used up a small amount of Diploma Gold 4ply for the scarf. I wanted the same contrast for the sock heels and toes. The perfect choice was the WYS Signature 4ply Spice Rack – Juniper 157. I always find that it is important to use a sock yarn for my toes and heels as these areas get a lot of friction when I’m wearing my socks. When I finished knitting the socks I still had some of the Arne & Carlos sock yarn leftover from this project so I’m planning to knit a pair of fingerless mitts using the same combination of yarns. I think they’ll be really pretty.
I used the same afterthought heel pattern for knitting the Arne & Carlos Socks as the Kristin Nicholas Socks (post to come later). I just used the contrast yarn for knitting the heels and toes.
Arne & Carlos Socks
Yarn
- 2 x 50g balls of Regia Design Line Arne & Carlos 3653 Star Night
- 1 ball of WYS Signature 4ply – Juniper 157 (I only used a small amount of this yarn so you could use some sock yarn from your stash).
Needles
- 3.25 mm double pointed needle (dpn) for casting on
- 2.75 mm (set of 5) dpns for knitting socks
- tapestry needle for finishing
Tension
- The tension for this sock is 20 rows and 16 stitches / 5cm (2 inch) square in stocking stitch (stockinette). 8 stitches / 2.5cm (1 inch).
Abbreviations
double pointed needle(s) – dpn(s); stitch(es) – st(s); knit – k; purl – p; knit two stitches together – k2tog; yarn over – yo; slip slip knit – ssk; purl two stitches together – p2tog;
Cuff
- Cast on 60 sts using 3.25 mm dpn using the long tail cast on or a different stretchy cast on.
- Join into the round as you knit the first round using 2.75 mm dpns, 15 sts on each needle.
- Knit 14 rounds using k1, p1 ribbing.
Leg
- Knit 52 rounds or you can add more rounds if you would like the sock leg to be longer.
Afterthought heel Set Up
This sock has an afterthought heel. Use about a metre of yarn that contrasts with the sock yarn. It helps to use a smooth yarn as it is then easier to remove later when you’re picking up the stitches for the afterthought heel. This heel uses a little over half of the total stitches – 34 stitches.
- On the next round knit 43 stitches, then knit the next 34 stitches using the waste yarn.
- Go back to where you started knitting with the waste yarn and continue knitting the foot of the sock with the Arne & Carlos sock yarn (you’ll be knitting across the waste yarn stitches first).
Foot
- Knit 48 rounds for the foot.
I go into a lot of detail about knitting the foot and working out how many rounds you will need to knit in my Red Rainbow Socks post.
Classic Toe
- Change to the blue sock yarn.
- Round 1: Needles 1 and 3: k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1; Needles 2 and 4: k1, ssk, k to end of needle.
- Round 2: k
- Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are 4 sts on each needle. (16 stitches).
- Making sure that the toe stitches align with the waste yarn that marks where the afterthought heel will be placed, slip the stitches from needle 4 onto needle 1 and the stitches from needle 3 onto needle 2. 8 stitches on each needle.
- Graft the toe stitches using Kitchener Stitch.
The Afterthought Heel
Pick up 17 stitches on each of four double pointed needles and then remove the waste yarn. Knit the afterthought heel using the blue sock yarn.
- Once the live stitches are on the needles, knit 1 round.
- Then I worked the heel in the same way as for the Classic Toe.
- Round 1: Needles 1 and 3: k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1; Needles 2 and 4: k1, ssk, k to end of needle.
- Round 2: k
- Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are 4 sts on each needle. (16 stitches).
- Making sure that the heel stitches align with the toe, slip the stitches from needle 4 onto needle 1 and the stitches from needle 3 onto needle 2. 8 stitches on each needle.
- Graft the toe stitches using Kitchener Stitch.
I love how the heel looks. The blue contrast sock yarn is gorgeous with the patterned sock yarn.
Finishing
Sew in the ends using the tapestry needle. I washed and blocked these socks because I was going to be photographing them. I also do this if the socks I am making are a gift.
But to be honest, if you have made them for yourself, just add them to your sock drawer. You’ll really enjoy wearing these great socks.
The garden is looking beautiful at the moment. Full of blossom and colour from the beautiful hardy geraniums to the luscious paeonies and roses. By early July our garden has a rich pink colour theme and it was lovely being able to photograph the Arne & Carlos Socks in the garden.
Nicole says
Your blog is my go-to source for sock inspiration! I started knitting socks during the covid-19 lockdown, and so far, I’ve made 4 pairs! I splurged on some of this Design Line Arne and Carlos yarn for a try at knitting with “real” superfine sock yarn (the previous yarns have been slightly thicker and chunkier and “woolier”). I have US size 2 dpns (2.75mm), and a pretty regular gague, and I cannot establish the pattern in the yarn! It’s befuddling me how a pattern would even align properly with everyone having slightly different knitting methods. I searched on ravelry, and concluded that most people who succeeded with the pattern used a size 1 needle. However, I have size 2s on hand and am hoping I can mimic your success with this sock, since your striping patterning came out stellar with size 2s. Time will tell, but early rows suggest I’ll be investing in the size 1s.
Do you have any advice on how to nail the patterning in this sock? Is there a trick to self-striping yarns?
Hi Nicole,
I don’t really have any real luck with getting the Arne & Carlos yarn to make the correct patterning. I tend to knit the socks that will fit me and leave how the pattern comes out a bit up to chance.
I looked up the Arne & Carlos youtube video on How to Knit the Easiest Sock in the World as they mention in it the needle size and stitch count that works best for their sock yarns. They use a set of 5 double pointed needles in 2.5mm size and cast on 64 stitches spread over 4 needles with 16 stitches on each needle.
It is never straight forward getting exactly the same look because everyone knits slightly differently with different gauge. I noticed that Arne & Carlos were using metal needles where as I like to use bamboo or wooden needles and that can also cause a difference.
I normally cast on 60 stitches using 2.75mm needles.
I hope that helps. Congratulations on your lovely new pairs of socks! You’ll have a lovely collection of socks for coming into the Autumn (or Spring) depending on where you live. Nicolette
For not having great lock with A&C yarn, you sure nailed it on this one. 😉
Arne and Carlos thankfully do have a large online presence- thanks for finding that link. I was struggling to find info about the yarn- between multiple colorways in the “Design Line”, many have a number and a name, but only the number is on the skein. I guess the one I have is “Winter Night”.
I’ll check out the video for sure, and I’m picking up the size 1 needles later today to give them a spin and see what comes out (I prefer bamboo needles too, but unless I delve deep on the internet, that size seems tricky to find easily, so metal from a Big Box store it is for now). If I still can’t get the pattern, I guess I can be happy with the lovely color-coordinating stripes- it’s still going to be a pretty sock either way.
And, I suppose, if the size 1 needle doesn’t turn out the pattern, I can go back to my original go-to sock pattern than I love, your Opal Play K3P1 rib sock and I use the Fish Lips Kiss heel- I fell in love with that heel first thing and never looked back! It’s almost fall here where we are (southeastern US), and I’m melting, awaiting an opportunity to take my new socks for a walk!
(Your Opal Play K3P1 socks use 64 stitches, where you usually use 60. the 64 fit me so well when I made the Opal sock, that I plugged in 64 here too. I wonder if that could have made the slight difference to pull the pattern a little further out of alignment… WHO KNOWS? 🙂 Oh well, I’ll try this sock with 64 stitches and size 1 needle, and if not, I’ll try this again with 60 and size 2, and STILL if not, I’ll just do the opal sock that I like best and figure this was a worthwhile experiment in dpns!)
just found this. Lifesaver- am in a sock swop but have had too many life events to finish the planned sock pattern. These are gorgeous and manageable given other stresses
HI NICOLETTE, WELL I HAVE MADE MY FIRST PAIR OF SOCKS THANKS TO YOU,THE WAY YOU HAVE WRITTEN AND THE PHOTO’S POSTED ON YOUR KNITTING SQURREL PAGE LAID OUT EVERYTHING IN AWAY THAT I COULD UNDERSTAND AS NEW KNITTER I FOUND THE PATTERN THAT CAME WITH THE WOOL FROM Arnie&Carlos Basic Socks Pattern.WELL BASIC IT WAS NOT UNTIL I FOUND YOU THANKYOU I AM NOW HOOKED .SANDY
Hi Sandy, I’m so pleased you found the sock pattern helpful! I never get bored knitting socks. Always something new to try. Happy Knitting, Nicolette