These socks are a product of my “Knit Your PhD” endeavor. I’m not sure why anyone besides me would ever want to make them, but I’m sharing the pattern anyway!

Each sock represents a diatom-bound nitrogen isotope record I generated from Holocene-aged sediment cores collected off the coast of Antarctica. Diatom-bound nitrogen isotopes tell us about nutrient utilization in the ocean, which is relevant to carbon drawdown. So, these records inform how phytoplankton around Antarctica influenced global climate over the past 11,000 years!

The two sediment cores used in my research are Ocean Drilling Program Site 1098 on the Antarctic Peninsula and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1357 offshore of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin, East Antarctica. The data are archived here and here.

Each row of the pattern represents a 120-year timestep, while the color corresponds to a range of diatom-bound nitrogen isotope values. There are 91 pattern rows spanning the past 10,920 years, with the oldest by the toe and the youngest by the cuff.

6 different colors are needed to knit these socks: 5 for the range of diatom-bound nitrogen isotope values plus an accent color for the cuff, heel, and toe.

Beware: there are lots of ends to weave in!!!

A note on sizing: this pattern results in socks that fit a US women’s size 6 foot. Size can be adjusted by adding or subtracting accent color rows before the toe.