This “pattern” has been around for many years, in various incarnations, on blogs which I no longer maintain. I thought I’d try to update it and give it a permanent home on Ravelry so that people don’t have to use the Wayback Machine to find it.

This is a method of knitting adult socks with (almost) any yarn and any size needles you choose, based on a simple percentage system.

You can knit socks for any adult, using a single measurement.
You don’t need to swatch to meet a specific gauge.
You can make up whatever patterning suits you: ribbing, cables, colorwork.
You can use most any yarn you like, including handspun.
You can use up all of your sock yarn, without wasting any, and without running out of yarn at the toe as might happen with a top-down pattern.

Feel free to sell socks you make with this “recipe.”

If you find this useful and would like to do something nice for me in return, please make a donation to the environmental/animal charity of your choice.

I’ve updated it, edited it, and tried to make it easy to understand - including both a short and a long version - but I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know if there are any glaring mistakes.

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Pattern updated 9/17/20 to correct heel percentage, and to make font consistent throughout.