Folks love to make themed socks for their loved ones and I am no exception. This sock came about as a surprise Christmas gift for a special young lady who was into archery. It incorporates four different easy lacy patterns in succession to create a quiver’s amount of arrows pointing downwards towards the toe.

Although the main pattern of this sock is often called gothic windows or some such, I think they really look like the points of an arrow, especially when oriented downwards as in a cuff-down sock (my favorite sock construction). Once that pattern was chosen, all I had to do was add some fletching (the feathers at the other end) and a bit of a shaft, all on an 8 stitch count repeat that lined or stacked up. The cast-on edge as shown is unabashedly fancy, but may be omitted in favor of a straight cast-on edge, if desired; instructions are given for either. Either way, the shaft of the arrow constitutes a real cuff with proper ribbing, so no worries about this sock staying up.

There are 8 total pattern repeats around the S/M size sock and 9 pattern repeats around the L/XL. This necessitates some centering of the pattern for the L/XL size at the beginning of the heel flap so that the arrow shapes are distributed symmetrically across the instep which is easily accomplished. I strongly recommend a solid or only lightly tonal sock yarn or the pattern will not be evident. This pattern is appropriate for an intermediate level knitter. I knit with 5 DPNs (stitches evenly distributed on 4 needles and then work around with a 5th), but I have attempted to generalize my instructions for those who use alternate needle set-ups. This is a top-down design, and not suited for conversion to toe-up I feel, there too many design elements that would be significantly altered in the conversion. Instructions for the four patterns are charted and written out.

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock, 100% SW merino. Colorway “Turner” # 851, 380 yds or 86 g for L as shown