Holly Jolly Christmas Socks
I started to say this was one of my first pairs of Christmas socks to knit, then I realized that’s a total lie. I’ve done Christmas stripes, Christmas speckles, and Christmas lace. What a weirdo. I think my holiday themed sock kick began in 2019 after watching several episodes of A Homespun House where Molly shared her Christmas colorways and I was feeling it.
Until this point, I’d only knit Sci-Fi, Vikings, Firefly, Studio Ghibli, Star Wars, The Killing, and Big Bang Theory– themed knits. But I mean, that’s all.
Holly Jolly is extremely satisfying as a holiday knit. It’s a combo of a green speckles and a red and natural micro-stripe that’s reminiscent of a candy cane, but more complex. These are extra warm and soft, being merino. I can’t wait til it cools off just a bit more so I can wear them.
Molly’s Plump Merino base is true to it’s name. I think it has a similar feel to the Gynx Strong Sport I obsessed over a few posts ago. It produces a nice, full fabric. And when it is finally cold enough for me to wear wool socks, I want the wooliest of wools.
Details: I used US size 0 circulars and paired my A Homespun House Plump Merino in Holly Jolly with some natural wool/ nylon from stash for cuffs and heels. I used … you guessed it … the Smooth Operator pattern for those afterthought heels.
The No Gap Gusset Pickup and No Kitchener toe closure are all part of Susan’s pattern, which I have recommend every time I post a pair of socks. Still recommending it now. And that’s all I have to say about these Christmas socks.
But Wait!!
If I haven’t lost you yet, allow me to tack on two more pairs of Christmas socks to this post. After satiating the need to wear the holiday on my feet, as only a knitter can, I extended the overwhelming desire to clothe bodies in green and red to my family. I was also so pleased with my experience knitting Regia’s Pairfect Cinnamon Socks, I decided to get more Pairfect for matching Christmas Socks for my daughter and son-in-law.
So,Christmas Colored Couples Socks (mentally read with a child’s lisp) … how the mighty have fallen: Again with the US size 0s and 2 skeins of Regia Design Line in Garden Color. I didn’t use a pattern for this, just cast on 56 stitches for one pair and 64 for the other and knit a traditional slip stitch heel.
I knit through the back of each gusset stitch I’d picked up to tighten any looseness of the gusset pick up and I used the Smooth Operator no-Kitchener toe closure method. At this point I am feeling pretty good about my ability to kind of wing it with sock knitting.
My daughter and I have the same size foot so knitting hers was easy. For my son’s I used Katrinkle’s Socks Rule! sock ruler. It worked out so well I didn’t even have to make him close his eyes to try one on a few days before Christmas (as with his Cobblestone Pullover. So much for surprise.)
These really are a great colorway because they have the look of a stranded and striped sock with none of the hassle. Just like with the Cinnamon Socks, the skein starts with a big green section for cuffs, then a pattern forms on its own as you knit. When you reach the next big green segment it is time to knit the heel. After this you keep knitting the foot in the striped pattern. If you’re knitting for a smaller foot and still want the contrasting green toe, just knit to where you want to begin the toe, cut your yarn, and unwind the skein until you get to the last green section. Join this green to your sock, then knit your toe and you’ve won Christmas!
Sadly, I have very few photos to document this. I am happy to have this one of commemorating Jennyanydots rolling around on my son-in-law’s sock. It’s like she knew he is allergic.
Are you a Christmas sock knitter? I still have a couple of skeins of Christmas sock yarn to play with as November nears.
Side note because I’m already linking SO many things in this post: Katrinkles has a lot of neat knitting tools. Besides the cute ornaments for Christmas and stitch markers, there’s a very cool darning and mending loom tool that I am putting on my Christmas list.
On Ravelry you can find more on my Holly Jolly socks and the Christmas gift socks.
More Holly Jolly on podcast Episode 42: A Less Traditional Christmas and 43: Reading, Remembering, and Purging and the corresponding blog podcast notes here and here.
