It’s 17th Century England. The horse-drawn carriage shakes and squeaks as it travels along the bumpy road from Old London Town. Suddenly you hear a galloping horse, followed loudly by the famous words ‘Stand and Deliver!’, and out of the swirling mists rides the Gentleman Highwayman in all his stylish glory! He may excuse you of your gold and silver, but he will do so with such grace and elegance, daring and bravado, and dressed in such high fashion, that the ladies will swoon, and his legend will be immortalised in ballads and stories retold for centuries to come!

Of course, this is a romanticised version of reality, but it was while watching a programme on these Gentlemen Highwaymen that I was inspired to create my own Stand & Deliver socks! I’m not sure if the famous Dick Turpin, Sixteen String Jack or Gentleman James Maclaine were lucky enough to have socks like these knitted for them, but I like to think that the stylish bootlace design would have been a hit with the highwaymen!

Stand & Deliver socks can be knitted as identical or inverted twins, like the Venetian Blinds socks. There are also two different ways to knit the “tongue”. You have plenty of options to play with! Stand & Deliver socks are the perfect project to use 30 – 50 g of leftovers and you can combine colors in many different ways. Or knock yourself out and get a couple of mini skeins. If you prefer identical twins, you will need 80 – 100 g as a base and some contrasting leftovers of about 20-30 g.

You will find the instructions for a circumference of 60 and 64 stitches, but they can easily be adjusted to fewer or more stitches. You will be given a table with all sock sizes (UK, US, EUR, and AUS: men’s and women’s) to knit your Stand & Deliver socks. The socks are worked from the toe up. If you have never tackled toe-up socks before, here is your chance to learn it, as all steps will be illustrated with graphics and photo tutorials. All pattern instructions are written and charted.
Stand & Deliver socks are partly modular, but don’t worry, there is no seaming involved! And there are helpful photo tutorials to explain all the joining techniques.

Happy knitting!