Entrelac Socks

When I first saw the entrelac socks on Eunny's blog, I knew I they looked fun and challenging. They would definitely be on my needles sometime in the future. The more I looked at them, the less I wanted to wait, so I went in search of pattern. I found one on the Townsend Socks Yahoo! group, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted. Like most knitters, I saw the pattern and immediately began thinking of ways to change it. Below is the pattern I ended up creating.

Size: Women's small-medium (I wear a size US 7.5 shoe. The circumference of my foot at the ball is 8.5 inches. My foot length is 9 inches)

Gauge: 8 stitches per inch

Materials: Trekking XXL 104, 5 bamboo DPNs in US size 1 (2.25mm)
Note on Trekking:
Some Trekking yarns will make a beautiful entrelac pattern without any planning or forethought. You can just pick out the yarn and start knitting. To do this, make sure you use a colorway with very long color blocks. Other Trekking yarns with shorter color repeats will create stripped entrelac squares. The other option is to use two solid colors of sock yarn and alternate.

Worked toe-up with a short row toe and a short row heel. I use Wendy's pattern as a reference.

Begin by casting on 32 stitches using a provisional cast-on.
Knit across cast-on stitches. Purl back across.

Begin short row toe:
Row 1: Knit to last stitch, wrap last stitch with yarn in front as if to purl, slip last stitch from left needle to right. Turn work, slip first stitch (the one you just wrapped and slipped) onto right needle.
Row 2: Purl to last stitch, wrap last stitch with yarn in front as if to knit, slip last stitch from left needle to right. Turn work, slip first stitch (the one you just wrapped and slipped) onto right needle. You now have one wrapped stitch on each end of the needle.
Row 3: Knit to stitch before the wrapped stitch (second to last stitch), wrap stitch with yarn in front as if to purl, slip wrapped stitch from left needle to right. Turn work, slip stitch (the one you just wrapped and slipped) onto right needle.
Row 4: Purl to stitch before the wrapped stitch (second to last stitch), wrap stitch with yarn in front as if to knit, slip wrapped stitch from left needle to right. Turn work, slip stitch (the one you just wrapped and slipped) onto right needle. You now have two wrapped stitches on each end.

Continue repeating rows 3 and 4 until you have wrapped 8 stitches on each side and have 16 unwrapped stitches in the middle. Now you will begin picking up the wrapped stitches, beginning with a knit row.

Picking up wrapped stitches and make a toe box:
Row 1: Knit across 16 center stitches to the first wrapped stitch. Pick up the wrap, knit the stitch, pass wrap over knitted stitch. Move yarn to front as if to purl. Slip next stitch, turn, slip stitch back to right hand needle, purl to first wrapped stitch.
Row 2: Pick up the wrap, purl the stitch, pass wrap over knitted stitch. Move yarn to front as if to knit. Slip next stitch, turn, slip stitch back to right hand needle, knit to wrapped stitch.
Continue repeating rows 1 and 2 until all wrapped stitches have been worked. You know have a toe box and have just finished a purl row.

Knit 16 stitches onto your needle, pick up a new needle and knit the next 16 stitches onto the new needle.

Unzip the provisional cast on and place these stitches onto two needles, distributed evenly. You may need to pick up one stitch. Knit across these 32 stitches. You now have a total of 64 stitches on your needle.
Knit one row even.

Next row, decrease 22 stitches as follows: k2tog twice. (k1, k2tog) repeat 20 times. [42 stitches on needles]
Knit one row even.

Entrelac Base Triangles:
Each base triangle is worked across a total of 6 base stitches. After each row, turn the work.
Row 1: (RS) K2, turn
Row 2: (WS) Slip 1 stitch purlwise, purl 1, turn
Row 3: (RS) K3, turn
Row 4: (WS) Slip 1 stitch purlwise, purl 2, turn
Row 5: (RS) K4, turn
Row 6: (WS) Slip 1 stitch purlwise, purl 3, turn
Row 7: (RS) K5, turn
Row 8: (WS) Slip 1 stitch purlwise, purl 4, turn
Row 9: (RS) K6
Repeat these 9 rows across the remaining stitches. You will end up with 7 triangles. Distribute triangles across 4 needles. Needles 1 and 2 will be the instep stitches. Each will have 2 triangles. Needles 3 and 4 will be the heel stitches. Needle 3 will have one triangle and needle 4 will have 2 triangles.

Entrelac Squares Set 1
With wrong side facing, pick up 5 stitches along the side of the first triangle, starting at the tip and working down to the base. Purl 1 stitch from the adjacent triangle. Turn. This section may seem very awkward, but it will work out.
Row 1: Knit 6, turn.
Row 2: Purl 5, p2tog, turn.
Continue repeating two rows until all 6 stitches adjacent triangle have been purled. Pick up 5 stitches down the side of the triangle. and repeat Entrelac Square Set 1 until all triangles have been consumed and you have 7 squares.

Entrelac Squares Set 2
With right side facing, pick up 6 stitches along side of entrelac square. Knit one stitch from lefthand needle. Pass the 6th picked up stitch over the just knit stitch. Turn.
Row 1: Purl 6, turn
Row 2: K5, slip 1 stitch from lefthand needle to right, psso. Turn.
Continue repeating two rows until all stitches from left hand square have been consumed.
Continue alternating each set of squares until the sock length is approximately two incehs shorter than your foot length, end by completing Set 2.

Heel
Purl back across 6 stitches.
Pick up 5 stitches purlwise, purl 1 stitch from left needle.

End Triangle:
Row 1: Slip 1 stitch knitwise, k1
Row 2: Slip 1 stitch purlwise, p2
Row 3: Slip 1 stitch knitwise, k3
Row 4: Slip 1 stitch purlwise, p4
Row 5: Slip 1 stitch knitwise, k5
Row 6: Slip 1 stitch purlwise, p6
Row 7: Slip 1 stitch knitwise, k6, k2 tog
Row 8: Slip 1 stitch purlwise, p6, slip 1, p2tog, psso
Repeat across needles 3 and 4. You will have 6 square stitches and 24 end triangle stitches. Put all 30 stitches and on one needle. You will also now have 2 squares on needle 1 and 1 square on needle 2. Now you will begin the short row heel by repeating the process for a short row toe.

After making a short row heel, pick up 5 stitches purlwise down side of adjacent square.
Work Entrelac Squares Set 1 across the three squares on needles 1 and 2. Contine and consume the first 6 stitches off the needle containing the heel stitches. If there is a gap before the 6 stitches, pick up 2 stitches and k2tog them together on row 2 of entrelac square.

Now you are at the heel stitches.

Base triangles:
Row 1: P2tog, p2tog
Row 2: Slip 1 knitwise, k1
Row 3: P3
Row 4: Slip 1 knitwise, k2
Row 5: P4
Row 6: Slip 1 knitwise, k3
Row 7: P5
Row 8: Slip 1 knitwise, k4
Row 9: P6
Repeat base triangles three times.

You have now knit all the heel stitches. Rearrange needles if you need to.
Continue in entrelac until leg is the desired length. Knit a set of end triangles all the way around the leg [56 stitches].
Knit 1 round, increasing 8 stitches evenly.
K2, p2 rib for 1-2 inches. Bind off loosely.