The Pedestrian Scramble Socks are inspired by crosswalks. As someone who lives right in the heart of a city, crossing busy streets safely is a daily fact of life for me. In some cities, they try to help pedestrians get places more easily by having a phase of traffic lights know as a “pedestrian scramble”, where all vehicles are stopped and people can walk through the intersection in any direction — even diagonally through the middle! — to get where they are going.

Pattern Description

These socks use tidy-edges ribbing to create a fun look that is mirrored on the right and left socks. The foot fabric is slightly slanted on a diagonal, then the bias shaping on the leg produces a spiralling effect with vertical ribbing for a comfortable fit. The socks have an afterthought heel and a twisted-rib cuff. Both toe-up and cuff-down instructions are provided.

This pattern requires the knitter to work a small circumference in the round (the pattern is method-neutral; it works easily for any sock knitting technique) and provides tutorial links for techniques such as picking up an afterthought heel. Corresponding written instructions are provided for the charts.

Yarn Requirements and Sizing

Sizes available: Adult Small (Medium, Large) — 56 (64, 72) stitches — for foot circumferences of 18 (20.5, 23) cm / 7 (8, 9) inches with completely adjustable foot lengths and leg heights.

Yarn usage will vary depending on foot lengths, but for average standard sizes, this pattern requires approximately 275 (300, 325) m / 300 (325, 350) yards of fingering-weight sock yarn.

This pattern is designed for self-striping yarn, just to add those additional stripes to the mix — but the bias ribbing looks fun in any colourway!

These socks are rated 3/5 — Intermediate — on my sock pattern difficulty scale. This is because the ribbing is worked on the bias and therefore requires some attention.