Brioche For Brunch Socks

Overview

The Brioche for Brunch Socks feature a half-brioche or Waffle Stitch that is shockingly straightforward. (Really! One of our testers who had never knit a sock or done brioche before said “ Also this feels too easy!!! Am I doing it right?” 😀) The socks are knit using Magic Loop, one at a time, from the toe up. After the gusset increases, short rows are used to turn the heel. Gusset stitches are decreased on the heel flap, and then the sock is once again knit in the round. As always, if you have any questions, email us at support@knitrino.com.For more on reading knitting charts, please see How To Read Knitting Charts

This article got long! Here are some quick links to jump you to the section you need:

Size and Fit
Modifications
Construction
The Waffle Stitch
How to Loosely Bind Off
Considerations for Two at a Time
Additional Reading

Size and Fit

These "slouchy-ish" socks are SUPER STRETCHY and also super fast. Most knitters will not need to customize their socks. We recommend your sock be 1”-3" (2.5 - 7.5 cm) smaller than your foot in circumference, and 0.5” - 1.25” (1.25 - 3 cm) shorter than your foot in length. In our experience, a slightly tighter sock is always better than a loose sock! Because they have a low yardage requirement and FLY off the needles, we didn't feel like a gauge swatch was necessary (We initially had a swatch included, but since it was almost as fast to knit a sock, we ended up just doing that!) You can give any socks that don't fit to a knitworthy friend, and knit yourself a new pair tomorrow. 😀

Our test knitters’ advice: trust the pattern. New sock knitters should knit the pattern as written. If you do need to customize and have access to foot circumference, choose your size based on foot circumference, and add/subtract rounds at the end of the foot section in multiples of 3. Make sure to end with the same foot round that's shown as the last round in the size you've selected.

How to select your size:

Start with foot circumference if known.
Locate your shoe size on one of the charts below. US Men's sizes, add 1 to the values in the US Women's chart.
Find the blob closest to your size. If you're in between sizes or in an area of overlap, it's likely that either size could work for you. If you have wide feet, high arches, wide ankles or calves, pick the larger size.

If you don't know the details of the foot you're knitting for, you can generally just go from shoe size. We at Knitrino have knit these socks many, many times with different modifications, and have found that when in doubt, sizing down is generally better.

Size Charts

Modifications

How to Adjust for Length

First time sock knitters should work the pattern as instructed - the sock math can get a little tricky when you haven't done it before, and making adjustments can cause your numbers to be off. Try knitting the baby sock (it's the last size in the list, and you have to scroll to see it) to see how things come together.

To add length to a sock, add rounds to the end of the foot section in multiples of 3. If you want to add 1"/2.5 cm of length to a sock, add 9 rounds, ending with the same motif round that is shown. If the Foot Section ends with a brioche purl round, you need to end with a brioche purl round.

To shorten a sock, eliminate rounds in multiples of 3. To shorten a sock by 1", remove 9 rounds from the Foot Section, making sure to end with the same motif round. In Knitrino, you do this by skipping ahead from Round 11 to Round 20, for example (just tap the little checkbox next to Round 20 to go there, or swipe the green instruction box 9 times.)

How to Adjust for Width

We'll say it again for good measure. First time sock knitters should work the pattern as instructed - the sock math can get a little tricky when you haven't done it before, and making adjustments can cause your numbers to be off. Try knitting the baby sock (it's the last size in the list, and you have to scroll to see it) to see how things come together.

Adjusting for Foot Width

You can add or eliminate stitches (typically in multiples of 4, adding 2 to the instep and 2 to the sole) to widen or narrow a foot. If adding stitches, just increase the number of cast on stitches, or the number of toe increase rounds. Then work the extra stitches as knit stitches.

Adjusting for Ankle Width

Adjusting for ankle or calf width is a little bit trickier, but we generally suggest adding more gusset stitches to increase the width around the ankle region. If your leg above the ankle is also wider than the "average" foot, don't decrease all the gusset stitches in the Heel Section. This will keep the leg of your sock a larger circumference than the foot. You generally have to play around a little to figure out what works for you. If you'd like to explore this with a little more rigor, Kate Atherly's Custom Sock book goes into measuring your foot/adjusting sock grading at length. You can purchase her book at your local book store, get it from the library, or buy it on Amazon.

Adjusting for Calf Width

If the ankle/heel fits fine, but your leg above the ankle is wide, you can combine the above suggestion (don't decrease all the gusset stitches in the Heel Section) with actually increasing for the leg. We suggest inserting increases to match the shape of your leg. If your leg is suddenly much wider above the ankle, add the increases all at once. If it's gradually wider, add them gradually to create a taper.

Example 1

Here's an example. Alison has long skinny feet. They're 8.25" in circumference, but she wears a US 8.5/EU 41, so the small as written might be too short for her. Here's what she does:

Alison starts with the small, which has a finished circumference of 6.25", for 2" of negative ease. (Recommended ease is 1
-3" so this works just fine.) We'll also point out that medium has a finished circumference of 6.75", for 1.5" of negative ease, which also falls within the suggested range.
The finished sock length of the small will be 8", and Alison's foot is 9.75", for 1.5" of negative ease in the length. The recommended ease is 0.5"-1.25", so the sock might be too short for Alison's foot. Alison needs to add somewhere around 0.5" of length to the foot section.
The round gauge of these socks is around 9 rounds per inch. Since she needs to add rows in multiples of 3, she'll probably add around 6 extra rounds to Foot Section of the size small, which will add around .67" of length, bringing her finished sock length to around 9", which will be perfect for her 9.75" foot.

Of course, the sock fit great. But so did the medium - modification wasn't necessary, and if Alison had consulted the chart, she would have known that. 🙃

Example 2

Here's another example. Matteo has wide feet, wearing a US Men's 9.5/EU 43.5. He can't be bothered to measure his foot, so he assumes the medium will work for him. And it does! The same medium that also fit Alison's skinny foot. He could have also knit the Large and reduced the length by about 6 rounds. (Later, he did measure his foot, and it was 10", for 3.25" negative ease in circumference. It's a little more than recommended, but he was happy with them!)

Construction

The socks begin with the Extra Magic Cast On, a modification of Judy's Method where yarn is wrapped differently to prevent working the second half of the stitches through the back loop.

Toes are increased every other row until the foot circumference is reached. At the start of the foot, the instep motif begins. Any customization to length should be done here, before starting the lace motif.

Increases are then added to the sole stitches to create the gusset, after which the pattern is worked back & forth, using short rows to turn the heel. The gusset stitches are decreased on the heel flap, and then the sock is once again worked in the round for the leg & cuff.

The Waffle Stitch

When most people talk about Brioche, they're thinking of brioche ribbing, which is what our article on Brioche covers. Here, it's even simpler! We're only working half of the rib stitch: the slip 1 yarn overs and brioche purl stitches. On one round, we work the [k1, slip 1 yarnover], where slipped stitch & yarnover clump together as a pair and count as one stitch. On the next round, we purl the yarnover and the slipped stitch together as if 1 stitch. And that's the extent of it! For more details, see the linked article. 👆

	Slip 1 yarnover ( slip 1 yo in Knitrino or sl1yo, yfsl1yo, sl1yoyb, and all kinds of other abbreviations in other patterns): Bring the yarn to front if not already there, slip the next stitch purlwise, then move the yarn to the correct location for the next stitch.
	Brioche knit ( brioche k1 in Knitrino or brk in traditional patterns): Knit the next stitch and its yarnover together as if one stitch.

As mentioned, to count the stitches when there is a slip 1 yarnover, the pair counts as 1 stitch. When working brioche in two colors (unlike these socks), it's a little easier to see the slip 1 yarnover pairs:

Loosely Bind Off in Ribbing

This video shows how we loosely bind off (9:33), and provides an alternative "kinda stretchy" bind off (10:24).

Considerations for Two At A Time (TAAT)

Some of us love knitting two at a time. In order to work these socks two at a time, we suggest knitting toes separately, arranging your stitches as instructed, then combining on 1 needle. The reason for this is that at the end of the toe, you must rearrange your stitches bring one stitch from the sole needle to the instep needle. If you knit both toes at the same time, you will be unable to rearrange your stitches on the first toe. In that case, your first stitch on the sole needle of the first sock will be the last stitch of the instep.

To manage knitting TAAT in Knitrino, just work of the instructions for the first sock. You'll knit the instep stitches of the first sock, the instep of the second sock, the sole of the second sock, and finally the sole of the first sock. Mark your row complete to advance to the next row. When you're finished with all the "first sock" instructions, you'll have two socks complete! You'll just need to mark each section on the second sock complete by clicking off the black checkbox on the right hand side, and then Knitrino will automatically move your project to the completed tab!

Additional Reading

For more on reading knitting charts, please see How To Read Knitting Charts.

For more on Brioche, please see The Waffle Stitch section below, or for more complete explainers, our Brioche Overview.