I am so excited for today’s sock post! I’m getting close to finishing my Petty Harbour socks as I’ve turned the second heel and finished the gusset decreases. All I have now is the foot and toe, and they tend to go pretty quickly. Last night, I was knitting away on my socks, thinking about what pair to cast on next, when knitting karma struck again! My friend Carol of knit equals joy unexpectedly gifted me a sock pattern. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Carol, thank you for your thoughtfulness!
The pattern is Susan B. Anderson’s Smooth Operator Socks. It’s a top-down pattern with an afterthought heel and a few special details that give them an extra sleek look. The pattern is an amazing 14 pages long and gives directions for both dpns and magic loop. It’s very well written. There are actually two versions of the pattern: a detailed description of all the steps and a more streamlined, at a glance version. Pretty cool! I have the needles now to do them TAAT so all I have to do is pick out some yarn!

Copyright susan b. anderson, via ravelry
The pattern is designed to create uninterrupted stripes when using a self-striping yarn. I think it looks really cool! Also, the pattern offers four different sizes in fingering weight yarn as well as one size in worsted weight. You all know how I love a versatile knitting pattern, right?
I’m really loving how my Petty Harbour socks are turning out! I love the colors and, as I mentioned, I’m really happy with the way the gussets turned out.
Check out what my fellow Thursday sock knitters are doing! It’s turning into quite a group, so I will list them:
- fiberandsustenance
- Hannah at unsophisticated + jejune
- Iseago at nursingandknitting
- Jennifer at a creative yarn
- Paula at Spin A Yarn
Also, I’d recommend checking out Wolfberryknits’ post on her Australiana Socks–they’re masterfully done, from start to finish! If you want to join up, just post and link up. Leave a comment and I’ll link back to your blog. Also, I started the tag #thursdaysockalong on IG if you want to post there, too.
Happy sock knitting!
Wow, just wow! I love your socks and you are so close to being finished. How awesome is it to be gifted a pattern? I find it to be thrilling. I will definitely check out your next pattern. BTW, we have one more linking up after my post last week. I’ll link her in my post…which I’m getting ready to write π
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Thanks! It was pretty awesome! I’m catching up on my reader now, so I will check out your post and link up with our new member!
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Woo hoo! BTW, I bought that Susan B Anderson pattern after seeing it here. Maybe that will be my next pair too and we can commiserate together π
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That would be awesome! Although I don’t think we will need much commiseration…the pattern looks super clear and easy to follow!
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That pattern does sound good! I’m really liking the idea that it has the fingering and worsted weight conversion, how great is that? I can’t wait to see the progress on that one. Your current ones are looking damn fine too! I’m a bit out of the loop on who is in our sock group, I’ll copy you guys… π
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Yeah, I’m excited to give it a try! Our group is growing–I think it’s awesome! There’s one more person that I didn’t link up with yet, but I will in the next few minutes.
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Really? Three more in one week! Yay π It is so strange, but I will not question it.
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These are looking spectacular! Thanks for sharing all the information on the Susan B. Anderson pattern. I saw it had been released but hadn’t looked at it closely. I have some special self striping yarn I want to cast on with when I’m home in the states, and I think these will be perfect!
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Thanks! I think the Smooth Operator socks would work with pretty much any yarn, but they look especially nice in self-striping yarn!
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Beautiful socks! I know I’m going to learn a lot through these Thursday sock posts. Things like afterthought heels and magic loop. At this stage, I’m fairly clueless, but I’m looking forward to learning more.
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Thank you π We all started out as sock newbies, so you can definitely learn along with us!
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You’re so welcome, Alex! Having read all of your posts about socks, I thought of you right away when I saw this pattern. π There’s talk of a KAL in her group, too…her KALs are great!
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I just joined up π Also, I only just now made the connection that she wrote How I Make My Socks, which was the last adult-sized sock pattern I used!
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Yay! I’ve only ever knit two sock patterns, and How I Make My Socks was one of them. I want to make socks with the PDX Carpet colorway yarn in my stash!
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That yarn would look awesome for this! I love the turquoise and red together. They will look great!
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I think it would make really fun socks! I’m crazy about anything PDX Carpet, as you probably already know! π
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You may have seen that there’s no official start date for the KAL, so we can start our socks at any time! π
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Thanks, I had actually missed that. As long as I can pick out some yarn, I should have some on the needles for this Thursday’s sock post! I currently have it narrowed down to only four or five choices…
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Love it! (I think she posted that after you posted in her thread about the sock pattern. )
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Thanks for the mention! π and those socks are just stunning!
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You’re welcome and thank you! I thought your post would be an awesome view at what we’re aspiring to π
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Wow! I’m so in for the Smooth Operator socks KAL!! Thank you for posting about the pattern. Your Petty Harbor socks are seriously pretty!
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