Loretto Socks

The Loretto Socks use a top-down construction. The pattern does include charts.

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, there is a stairway in the Loretto Chapel shaped like a double helix. The stairway was constructed to take as little space as possible as it was an afterthought. The chapel itself was part of a school for girls, and was constructed without a stairway to the choir loft. When the nuns realized that they would need to build a stairway to get the girls to the choir loft, as opposed to having a ladder like they could for boys, they prayed for a solution. The answer to their prayers came in the form of this “miraculous staircase”, built by an unknown carpenter, who made this staircase that appears to have no support down the center. The spiraling pattern on this sock reminds me of this beautiful staircase.

This pattern was originally released as part of the Shivaya Naturals Taste of Shivaya club. If you have a version of the pattern from the club, please contact me (knitanonk on