During the Winter Olympics, I was fascinated by the way the snowboards went a short smooth way to the beginning of the half pipe, then did multiple twists, flips, and spins to finally end up with a long straight slide at the end. I thought there had to be a way to get that interpreted in knitting because it was just so awesome how they did that! Snowboarding the Halfpipe Socks is the result.

Though the pattern is written for double-pointed needles, it is easily adaptable to two circular needles or the Magic Loop technique. To make the socks easy to slip into clogs and loafers, the cables stop at the ankle and wide, smooth ribbing continues down the foot to the toe.

Though there is a larger-than-normal amount of stitches worked for these socks, it is necessary because the cables and the ribbing draw them in so they fit well and do not slide down the leg or have too much ease in the foot.

The leg cabling pattern is both written and charted.

There are two heel configurations: one for narrow-to-normal heels and one for normal-to-wide heels - knitter’s choice!