Easy Heel Colorblock Socks In New Colors
The twists and turns of sock knitting are notorious, but what if we told you there’s another way? Our Easy Heel Colorblock Socks eschew heel flaps, short rows, and gussets, and instead, do a little magic.
For these socks, you knit a tube, throw in a few dozen scrap yarn stitches along the way, then go back to those stitches, remove the scrap yarn, slip the live stitches onto four double pointed needles and knit the heel in the round, working regular decreases to the end, just like the crown of a kitten-size hat.
The simplicity of this technique is a real epiphany and so much fun to discover. You can experience the revelation either from the cuff to toe, or the toe to cuff. The Easy Heel Colorblock Socks pattern includes instructions for both approaches!
We could knit these socks over and over for the rest of our sock-knitting days, but the reason we knit up these pairs now was to recalibrate our skein requirements now that Posy comes in a new 50-gram skein size, as well as to celebrate five new colors in our Posy collection!
A rich new green, a range of three new blues, plus a pretty new purple, the Posy palette is now 16-colors beautiful. Pick a bouquet of happy colors for happy feet, and enjoy the knitting of an easy heel!
If you love the yarn used in this project, you’ll love all of our other yarn, too! Explore our 35+ lovingly created yarn collections, in nearly every natural fiber and spectacular color you can imagine… Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn shop!
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Jake Canton. Click here to see even more of Jake’s designs!
Share your progress + connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoEasyHeelColorblockSocks, and #PurlSohoPosy. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
- MAIN COLOR: 2 (2, 2, 2, 3) skeins of Purl Soho’s Posy, 75% superwash merino, 15% cashmere, and 10% nylon. Each skein is 159 yards/ 50 grams; approximately 210-240 (235-265, 265-295, 285-320, 310-355) yards required, depending on foot length. We used Heirloom White for one pair and Cloudless Sky for the other.
NOTE: If making very long foot for size 9 socks, you may possibly need 3 skeins. If making short foot for size 10 socks, you may only need 2 skeins.
- COLOR A (Cuff): 1 skein of Posy. Approximately 60 (75, 85, 100, 110) yards required. With the Heirloom White pair, we used Basil Green. With the Cloudless Sky pair, we used Bellflower Blue.
- COLOR B (Toe): 1 skein of Posy. Approximately 20 (25, 35, 40, 50) yards required. With the Heirloom White pair, we used Sour Gooseberry. With the Cloudless Sky pair, we used Azalea Glow.
- COLOR C (Heel): 1 skein of Posy. Approximately 30 (35, 45, 50, 60) yards required. With the Heirloom White pair, we used Pink Papaya. With the Cloudless Sky pair, we used Blue Dusk.
NOTE: For the Cuff, Toe, and Heel, our 25-gram skeins of Pocket Posy would also work great! You’ll need 1 skein each for Colors A and B, and 1 (1, 2, 2, 2) skeins for Color C.
You will also need…
- A set of US 0 (2 mm) double pointed needles
- A few yards of fingering weight scrap yarn
- For Toe-Up Version Only: A size B–E (2.5–3.5 mm) crochet hook for Provisional Cast On
- An Easy Heel Colorblock Socks pattern
Gauge
34 stitches and 50 rounds = 4 inches in stockinette stitch
Sizes
6 (7, 8, 9, 10), to fit kids to adults
Choose a size that is approximately 1–2 inches smaller than circumference of wearer’s foot.
- Foot Circumference: 6, (7, 8, 9, 10) inches
- Foot Length: Adjustable
SAMPLES: Both pairs pictured here are size 8.
Pattern
Our Easy Heel Colorblock Sock Pattern is available for purchase as a PDF download only.
Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our free knitting patterns and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!
Do you have a pattern to make these socks in sport weight or worsted weight? Thanks!
Hi Robin,
Thanks for reaching out! This pattern is only available for fingering weight yarn, but thank you for expressing your interest! I will be sure to pass this along to the rest of the team.
Alternatively, we do have our Boot Socks that are made in a worsted weight yarn! You could easily adjust the pattern a bit to accommodate the same color block design.
I hope this helps, happy knitting!
Gianna
Can you use magic loop instead of dbl pointed needles
Hi Jean,
Thanks for reaching out! Yes you can certainly use Magic Loop instead of DPNs, just be sure to keep in mind that the stitch placement will be a bit different since you wont be dividing the stitches on different needles!
I hope this helps, happy knitting!
Gianna
I was interested in these socks. It looks like I would need 4 skiens if one color; at $16 a skien the socks would be $64. Is that right or did I figure something wrong?
Hi JackeRose,
Thanks for reaching out! For a pair of socks you will need 2-3 skeins for the main color depending on the size you are making and then you will need 3 skeins for the contrasting colors! If you want 3 contrasting colors like we used in the pattern you will need one skein in each color, or if you don’t want 3 different colors you could use one or 2 colors! Depending on the size you plan on making you may be able to get away with only 1 or 2 skeins of the contrasting color if you don’t want to do 3 colors.
I hope this helps!
Gianna