Cast on 4 stitches to a dpn. Slide the stitches to the other end of the needle and knit. Repeat until you have a total of 12 rows. This is like I-Cord, but you don't pull the yarn tight across the back of the stitches. You now have a little strip of knitting hanging off the dpn.

With the working yarn, and in the direction you're knitting, pick up 10 stitches along the long side of the strip. Place these stitches on a second dpn.

Pick up 4 stitches along the short end of the strip [the cast on end], slipping these to a third dpn. You've now picked up stitches from three sides of the little strip.

Pick up another 10 stitches along the remaining long side of the strip, placing them on a 4th dpn. You now have a little strip of knitting surrounded by 4 dpns.

With the working yarn and in the direction you are knitting, use the 4th dpn to knit 2 stitches off the adjacent needle. [The first needle on the short side.] This leaves 2 stitches on the short-side dpn.

Leaving the remaining 2 stitches on the short-side dpn, slip 5 stitches from the next dpn. [#2 needle, long side].

There will be 5 stitches remaining on the long-side dpn. With the other end of this dpn, slip 2 stitches from the adjacent short-side needle.

Finally, slip the 2 remaining stitches to the bottom dpn. You now have 2 dpns with 7 stitches each [the sole of the sock], and one dpn with 14 stitches [the instep of the sock].