Toirneach Kilt Hose

I found this pattern on Knitty and immediately wanted to try it.  I do not really have the need for kilt hose as I am not Scottish nor do I own a kilt!  (Of course I always want warm socks, that never changes!)  I do have quite a large group of friends who adore men in kilts and all things Scottish, and reading The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon is helping me along as well!

The construction of this pair of hose is really neat.  It starts with the lace cuff, then it is decreased and some ribbing is knit with needles two sizes smaller than the rest of the sock.  This is the garter which helps them stay up.  Then the whole thing is turned inside out to complete the leg and foot, so that the cuff can be folded down to show the lace pattern.  It was very easy and fast as they are knit with worsted weight yarn on size 4 needles.  I chose Lion Brand Wool Ease for this project in a grey heather.  Wool Ease costs about $3 for a skein and I used about 2 1/2 skeins.  So for me, this was an economical project as well.  I do not care to hand wash socks so I prefer to knit my socks with machine washable fibers.

Here is the link to the pattern!  And for those of you on Ravelry, here is the link to the Ravelry page.

And here are the pictures.  I did not originally plan to use any ribbon with these socks but even with the knitted garter, for some reason they still kept falling down.  The ribbons look really sharp (I had seen other people wear these hose this way) and they were comfortable and kept my socks from falling down.

I had really good timing with the fresh snow today!  And they kept my legs toasty warm.

I love the way the calf shaping looks from the back.

And here is a closer picture of the lace cuff.  Only two repeats and that was it.  Very easy!

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