Despite appearances the Wenceslas socks are a really easy knit, pretty much what we call ‘vanilla socks’ in the knitting world, ie a simple stocking stitch knit. The stunning patterning is applied afterwards with a very simple embroidery technique; horizontal long stitch. It’s a bit like counted cross stitch, only easier.
If you have a pair of vanilla socks you’ve knitted for yourself or your beloved, you could easily upgrade them with some embroidery like this. An internet search for ‘darning patterns’ will give you some ideas with charts, or buy my Wenceslas pattern and use the chart from that. The embroidery on this pair only took me an hour or so, so it’s easily doable in time for Christmas.
