I’ve always been enamoured by knee high socks – store-bought or hand knit, striped or textured. It doesn’t matter.
Unfortunately, my calves were not engineered for most knee highs (socks or boots for that matter). I’ve grown tired of walking through the aisle of a store and spotting an awesome pair of knee highs only to learn there’s *no way* I’ll be able to get them around my calves.
There are lots of ways you can incorporate calf increases into knee highs – strips of filler stitches or sections of stitches that taper to nothing are a couple examples. But what I wanted to design was a pair of socks that looked fluid in the stitch patterns, and gave knitters the flexibility to custom-fit them to their own calves.
I think I’ve done that with Tufted Diamonds. The socks can be made to fit up to a 20″ calf!
And if you like the look of the sock but want to avoid the extra knitting of knee high length, I’ve also included instructions for a more typical crew height sock as well.
I hope these socks will allow knitters to make a truly well-fitting knee sock regardless of calf size!
Yarn provided by The Loopy Ewe.
Sizes
Two lengths – crew and knee high with option to custom-fit calves up to 20″.
Yarn
Knee Highs: Indigo Moon Nature’s Harvest (100% superwash merino wool; 370 yards [342 m] /100 grams): Madder Red, 2 hanks
Crew Length: Regia Silk (55% new merino wool, 20% silk, 25% polyamide; 218 yards [200 m] / 50 grams); Green, 2 balls
Needles
US#1 (2.5 mm): 36″ or 48″ circular for magic loop
Gauge
32 sts and 40 row = 4″ in St st
Notions
Tapestry needle.
Chart – Arrowhead A
Chart – Arrowhead B
Chart – back Diamond Calf Increase
chart – back Diamond Calf Increase Transition
chart – back Diamond Calf Increase Repeat
Chart – Heel
Chart – Heel Transition
Pattern Notes
This pattern is worked from the toe up using the magic loop method.
The knee high version has options for up to a 20″ calf.
Both the crew length and the knee high length are worked the same until after the heel is completed. At that point, the directions split for each length.
Socks
make 2
CO 18 sts using your favorite toe-up cast on (9 sts per needle). My preference is Judy’s Magic Cast-On. Cat Bordhi did a video of this cast on here.
Begin working in magic loop and work 1 rnd plain.
Next Rnd (inc rnd): On each needle – k1, kf&b, k until 3 sts rem, kf&b, k2; 4 sts inc’d.
Work inc rnd every rnd until you have 42 sts (21 per needle).
Then, work inc rnd every other rnd until you have 62 sts (31 per needle)
Work plain for ½”.
Next 4 rnds: Work Instep Setup chart on needle 1, and work sole of sock plain; 23 sts on instep, 31 sts on sole.
Instep
Begin working instep as follows:
Needle 1 (instep): Work Arrowhead Chart A for 5 sts, Diamond Chart for 13 sts, Arrowhead Chart B for 5 sts.
Needle 2 (sole): work plain
Important Notes
Number of sts on Needle 1 will vary between 23 and 35 depending on the rnd.
Work the m3 and m6 sts *very* loosely. I make the sts about twice as big as normal. You’ll want the looseness to make the following row easier to knit.
Continue working as est until the sock is approx 2” shorter than desired length to back of heel, ending with an even rnd, and after working needle 1 only. For me this measurement hits right at the center of my ankle bone.
Make note of which rnd you ended for both the Arrowhead Chart and the Diamond Instep Chart
Begin Heel Bottom
Note: The heel is worked back and forth on the 31 sts on needle 2 using short rows. {see our short row tutorial}
Needle 2: Work until 1 st rem, w&t; work until 1 st rem, w&t.
Next 2 rows: Work until 1 st bef last wrap, w&t. Work until 1 st bef last wrap, w&t.
Work as est, working 1 less st on each row, until you have 11 sts wrapped on each side and 11 sts unwrapped in the center.
Begin Heel Back
Next 2 rows: Work until 1 st bef wrap, pick up and knit wrap, w&t next st; work until 1 st bef wrap, pick up and purl wrap, w&t next st.
Cont working as est. Note that all further wrapped sts will be wrapped twice. Pickup and work both wraps together.
At the same time, begin heel patterning when you are on the appropriate row based on the last instep rnd that you worked (see table below). For example, if the last rnd of the diamond chart that you worked was rnd 12, then start the heel chart when working row 9 of the heel.
| Last rnd worked (diamond chart) | Start heel pattern on heel row |
| 16 | 5 |
| 14 | 7 |
| 12 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 |
| 8 | 13 |
| 6 | 15 |
| 4 | 17 |
| 2 | 19 |
When all heel wraps are picked up and worked, begin working in the rnd again. Depending on which instep rnd you ended with, you may finish working the heel before completing the Heel Chart. If so, just continue working the Heel Chart on Needle 2 until you’ve worked all rows on the chart.
When the Heel Chart is complete, begin working the Heel Transition Chart. For the Arrowhead Charts, work the same rnds as you work for the front of the sock.
Once the Heel Transition Chart is complete, begin working the Diamond Chart Rnd 1 in place of the center 13 sts on needle 2.
If you are making a knee sock, skip the Crew Sock instructions and follow the Knee High Sock instructions below.
Crew Sock
At this point your sock is setup for regular rnds, working the Diamond Chart on both the front and back half of the sock. Work the leg until it is 2” less than desired length.
Cuff
Work one purl row, decreasing 2 sts evenly.
Cuff Stitch Pattern
Rnds 1 and 2: *k2, p2* around
Rnd 3: *k1, yo, k1, p2* around
Rnd 4: * k3, p2* around
Rnd 5: * sl1, k2, psso the k2, p2* around
Work cuff for approx 2”, or until sock is desired length.
BO using the Decrease Bind Off.
Finishing
Weave in ends, block and enjoy your socks!
Knee High Sock
Custom Fitting the Sock
At this point your sock is setup for regular rnds, working the Diamond Chart on both the front and back half of the sock. I recommend trying on your sock after working Rnds 8 and 16 of the Diamond Chart to determine when you need to do a calf increase. Note that increases can only be worked after Rnd 8.
Each 16 rnd repeat measures approx 1.5”. If you’re having trouble deciding whether or not to increase or to wait another repeat I recommend increasing. The stitch pattern can pull in a lot to accommodate the extra fabric. If you wait too long to increase you may need to rip out. At best, if the sock needs to stretch a lot to fit your calf you will lose length and increase the number of rnds you need to work anyway.
Calf Increase
Each calf increase adds approx 1” of circumference. Calf increases are worked on the back of the sock only. Work the front half as established.
When you are ready to increase the calf, follow Rnds 9 – 16 of the Calf Increase Chart for the back of the sock. If you don’t increase immediately, keep in mind you can only increase on Rnd 9.
Try your sock on again and decide if you need to increase immediately, or if you should work another 16 rnds before increasing.
When you need to increase again, follow Calf Increase Repeat Chart.
From here on out, when you need to increase, follow Calf Increase Repeat Chart as follows:
Starting with Rnd 9: work the setup sts in white at the beg on the rnd. Then, work the repeat (denoted in blue) until one st rem, k1. Each increase will have you work an additional repeat.
As a point of reference, I have a 17” calf and I worked increases until I had 8 full diamonds on the back of my sock.
Cont working the sock until approx 3” less than desired length, ending with Rnd 8 or 16 of the Diamond Chart.
Count the number of whole diamonds you have on the back of your sock. If you ended on Rnd 16, count the 2 half-diamonds as a whole diamond. If this number is odd, work a purl row without any decreases. If this number is even, work a purl row and evenly decrease 2 sts around.
Cuff Stitch Pattern
Rnds 1 and 2: *k2, p2* around
Rnd 3: *k1, yo, k1, p2* around
Rnd 4: * k3, p2* around
Rnd 5: * sl1, k2, psso the k2, p2* around
Work cuff for approx 3”, or until sock is desired length.
BO using a stretchy bind off.
Finishing
Weave in ends, block and enjoy your custom-fitted knee highs!
Note: if you want to add clear elastic to help keep your kneehighs from sagging, read our tutorial on how to do it.
About the Designer: Jody Richards
Jody is a lifelong knitter, long-time knit blogger, and the founder of Knotions. When she first got back into knittnig she thought it was the craziest thing in the world to knit socks. Socks? And now she can’t think of a time in the past 5 years when she didn’t have at least 2 pairs on the needles.
Pattern and images © 2009 Jody Richards.
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