Goats Recommend... Favorite Textured Sock Patterns

Ready to go beyond the basics? We love vanilla sock patterns — AND vanilla ice cream! But sometimes you might want to add a swirl of chocolate sauce or maybe some crunchy cookies or nuts. 

For a bit of interest and to keep you entertained, how about adding some texture to your sock? We crowdsourced some recommendations from the Local and Remote Goats who are participating in Socktober. They’ve suggested some fabulous textured sock patterns, many of which are very friendly for beginners. 

Want to see their go-to vanilla sock patterns? Those are here and here. We’re running a series of blog posts this Socktober with LOTS of favorite sock patterns.

There were SOOOOO many textured favorites from our Goats that we’re only highlighting a handful here. For the full list, visit the Textured Sock Bundle on Ravelry!

Textured Sock Highlights

• Grain Stitch Socks by Edie Eckman: One of our Remote Goats and a veteran Goat KAL participant, Pat, is a huge fan of the texture in this top-down sock pattern. She says it's an easy stitch motif to memorize, looks great with a variety of yarns and she’s knit about 6 or 8 pairs of these!
  
  
• Simple SKYP Sock by Adrienne Ku: This top-down pattern is available for FREE or at a discount! In the words of the recommender: “I love that the ribbing gives a great fit, and the pattern makes the texture pop on semisolid colorways and mixes the colors up on variegated colorways.”
  
  
• Scatterby Socks by Amy Stringer: This is a FREE pattern for a toe-up sock with an all-over texture that makes for a squishy, waffled texture.
  
  
• Hello Sailor by Summer Lee: This set of socks was inspired by the textures of fisherman’s sweaters. The recommender likes the set because “it has four different [top-down] sock patterns with lots of simple texture that work great for hand-dyed yarn.”
  
  
• Terraced Pines by Alice Dunn Smith: This top-down sock appears to have lots of little cables — but they’re twisted stitches! It was designed for new sock knitters and includes video tutorials with an easy way to use Magic Loop technique for sock-knitting.
  
  
• Patterns by Carlie Perrins - We had a few recommendations for patterns by this designer, who sometimes designs the same sock set in both DK and fingering, and always offers her sets in a top-down and toe-up version. Perrins favors cozy textures and cables, and often sells her designs in sets of 3 or 4. Check out the Homestead Sock Collection DK (Toe-Up), DK Sweater Weather Top-Down, and the Great Outdoors Lite (Top Down) which also comes in toe-up and DK weight.

Join us for Socktober!

We’ve got a record-breaking 180 folks joining us for Socktober this year — our biggest KAL yet — and it’s not too late to join in on the sock-making fun! This year, we’ve got a great pattern picked out for beginners to socks, as well as a super-spicy option for sock veterans. Or you can knit your favorite sock pattern — and please do share it with us! 

Sign up for Socktober at our KAL page!