2022 Geek-A-Long: Oregon Trail Clue 1

It’s Sunday afternoon and I just endured enjoyed my first whole class Kindergarten birthday party. Mabel had a blast and I did more awkward socializing in 2 hours than I’ve done in the last 2 years. I am very bad at the whole mom-small-talk thing. But Mabel is settling into a sheet cake induced sugar coma, and I’m home out of the cold rain with some cozy tea and yarn and it was probably good for all of us. I’m sure I’ll feel that way after I thaw.

Much more importantly…

…drum roll please…

…it’s time for Clue 1 of our first Geek-A-Long project of 2022: Oregon Trail!

Each pair of socks this year will follow more or less the same format, and you can expect to work the leg and heel in Clue 1; Gusset, foot, and toe in week 2; then repeat for weeks 3-4. All year long, both socks will be different so please don’t cast on to work these two-at-a-time unless you want to make 4 socks.

I got a few questions from the GAL nation about turning a heel when they were working their Shifter Socks, so I’ve made you a brand new tutorial video to show the process of short rows and decreases to create the heel turn we’ll be using all year long:

This year’s socks will feature varying degrees of colorwork difficulty, but the construction of the socks will be the same throughout so if you master this heel (and I think it’s one of the easiest and neatest heels available) you’ll be good to go. Heels are often what keeps an otherwise adventurous knitter from trying out socks, and while there are tons of techniques you can use ranging from very simple to very complex, this is an easy one.

I’ve got a few more videos planned for the year during some of our other socks that will walk you through colorwork techniques used, but for this sock all you’ll need is to be ready to cast on, and catch your yarn floats when working one color for several stitches. You can find the videos for casting on, basic 2-color knitting, advanced 2-color yarn management, and catching long floats by clicking those links.

View Oregon Trail Socks: Clue 1 by clicking the button below. When you download the pattern from our website instead of through Ravelry, you will NOT receive automatic updates. You will have to come here and download the next clue every time. Please download it via Raverly if you are able, so you have immediate access to the clues as they are released and any errata that may appear.

One last note before you go: I want to mention that there are a few very minor deviations between my sample and the pattern. We wrote and charted the patterns and then made updates for clarity, formatting, catching typos, etc while working the samples. The end result is that sometimes we would find spots where it would be a simpler pattern if a chart started on a different row, or one stitch to the left, that sort of thing. Eagle Eyed Knitters may spot these small changes, and they are NOT an indication that you have misread the pattern, it just means that I updated the pattern a little after making my samples.

~Megan-Anne

My toxic trait is I don’t really like other people’s kids that much. It’s hard to pretend to be interested for 2 hours. Couldn’t we just talk about yarn instead?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider making a donation to Child’s Play Charity. Here is a direct link to our official donation page benefiting the charity. Please help us raise $1,000 this year. No contribution is too small! Wanna make your donation go even further? Lattes & Llamas will donate $1 for every skein of Geek-A-Long Yarn purchased.