{Let's Knit a Pair of Socks} The Leg

We left off the last step after working all of the stitches of the short row heel. At this point, we'll stop working back and forth and work around the cuff of the sock.  The yarn should be between Needle #1 and Needle #2. With the tip of needle #2, pick up a stitch from between the two needles. Using your empty needle, knit that stitch together with the first stitch from needle #2. (This prevents a hole where the heel rejoins with the rest of the sock.) Knit all of the stitches on Needle #2, then use the tip of Needle #3 to pick up a stitch from between the needles and knit it together with the first stitch on the needle. Complete the round.

I tend to knit three rounds in stockinette before I start the ribbing. For all of my plain socks, I use k2p2 ribbing, but you could also use k1p1, or any other simple rib pattern. For this pair, avoid cables or a lot of yarn overs because they may make your cuff stretchier or tighter than you need. (With some practice and research, you can learn how to increase or decrease stitches or change needle size to make it work.) Knit in your choice of ribbing until your cuff is as long as you want it. I've been knitting six inch cuffs because that was the criteria for Judy's Pooling Sock Challenge a couple of years ago and I can measure my progress against my six inch knitting needles.  Somewhere, I read that the cuff should be the same length as the foot.

Don't just bind off when your cuff is long enough. For toe up socks, you absolutely need a stretchy bind off. Trust me -- I learned that the hard way! If your bind off is too tight, you won't be able to get your socks on over your heel.

For years, I solved the problem by holding two needles together while binding off. That made the stitches larger. That works, but more recently I've learned to do a real stretchy bind off that I like much better: Knit two stitches, then use the tip of the left needle to knit those two stitches together. Knit the next stitch, then use the tip of the left needle to knit it together with the stitch that's still on your right hand needle.  When I first started using this bind off, I'd knit the knits and purl the purls, but these days I just knit all of the stitches. It's quicker and I can't notice much of a difference.

Weave in the ends, using the length of yarn at the toe to sew up that little opening.

I'd say that you're done, except you've got that second sock to knit.

Have I convinced you to give sock knitting a try? I know that at least one reader found other techniques that she likes better than mine and I think that's wonderful. For me, finally figuring out how to knit socks opened up so many possibilities... which might be why I've got 351 sock patterns in my Ravelry queue.

{Let's Knit a Pair of Socks!} The Heel

If you've been knitting along with me, it's time to work a short row heel. If not, and you want to jump in, you can find all of the details in this post. In the last step, I showed you how to knit your foot and make sure that it's long enough.

(This might be a good spot for another lifeline, just in case.) 

1/4 of your stitches are on needle #1, 1/2 are on needle #2, and 1/4 are on needle #3. We'll be working the short row heel back and forth on needles #1 and #3.

Knit to the last stitch on needle #1.

Slip the last stitch onto your right hand needle (without knitting it).

Bring your working yarn to the front of your work, forward around the base of the stitch, then slide that stitch back onto the left hand needle.

Turn your work so that the purl side is facing you. (At this point, you've got one unworked stitch on the left hand needle.)

Purl across needle #1.

Purl across all but the last stitch of needle #2.

Slip the last stitch onto your right hand needle, wrap your yarn around the base of the stitch, this time from front to back, and slip the stitch back onto the left hand needle.

Turn your work and knit to the second to last stitch on needle #1. Wrap the stitch the same way you did the stitch in the previous row, then turn your work and purl to the second to the last stitch on needle #3.

Each row, you'll leave one more unworked stitch. If you look closely, you can see the wraps at the base of each stitch, but I've found that it works better for me if I count.

For fingering weight socks, I keep going until I've slipped and wrapped all but five stitches on each needle. This pair is worsted weight and for little feet, so I'm using four stitches.

Now, we're going to pick up and knit those wrapped stitches, one at each end for each row.

Knit across needle #1 to the first wrapped stitch, then slide it onto your right hand needle. With the tip of your left needle, pull up the yarn that's wrapped around the base of the stitch, then slide it onto the right needle and knit both the stitch and wrap together into one stitch.

Turn your work and purl to the first wrapped stitch. Slide that stitch onto your right hand needle, lift the wrap onto the needle and purl the stitch and wrap together into one stitch.

Keep going, knitting or purling a wrapped stitch at the end of each row until you've worked every stitch.

Now you've got your heel. There are lots of different heel options for sock knitters. This just happens to be the one that made sense to me when I first started knitting socks. 

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer, just be sure you're not set to no-reply (or leave an email address in the comment.)

Come back November 14 and we'll knit the leg and do a stretchy bind off. 

{Let's Knit a Pair of Socks!} The Foot

Have you got a toe finished yet? The foot is the easiest part of the sock, so if you haven't started yours yet you've got plenty of time to catch up. You can find the instructions for the toe in this post. 

If you want some insurance in case you decide to go back and adjust your stitch count, run a lifeline through the last round of your toe. Thread a darning needle with a length of yarn in a  contrasting color and carefully run it between the needle and stitches. Use a smooth, strong yarn so that it will be easy to pull out the lifeline once you no longer need it. (Personally, I don't fuss with lifelines when it comes to my sock knitting. Now and then something goes wrong and I just  start over with a new toe.)

Your stitches are divided onto three needles, 25% of them on needle #1, 50% of them on needle #2, and 25% on needle #3. For the pair of socks I'm knitting here (worsted weight yarn for my tiny nine-year-old) that's 10/20/10. For my usual fingering weight socks, it's 16/32/16. Needles #1 and #3 are the stitches for your heel. Needle #2 holds the stitches for the top of your foot. With future pairs of socks, you can have all kinds of fun working patterns across those stitches. Don't add cables or lace to this pair because they can alter your gauge and change the way the sock will fit, but you can do k2p2 ribbing if you'd like.

Knit around and around and around in stockinette until the distance between the toe and that line you made on your paper foot outline match. (I was eyeballing this pair and went a few rows farther than I should have, but they're socks for a growing boy so I didn't rip back.)

After you get a few rows of the foot done, you can try on your sock again to make sure that you're happy with the fit. Be gentle if you're using fingering weight and wooden dpns! I prefer to wait until I've knit half of the stitches from Needle #2 so I have the stitches spread over four needles instead of three. You want the foot to reach a little higher than it does in this picture, but it's not easy to position a sock on your foot when it's on needles. I can tell that there's enough extra to get up to the bend of his foot. Between that and your traced outline, you should be fine. (And once you've got knit socks that fit to compare your length to, you don't have to mess with this part anymore! You're going to knit more than one pair, right?)

Come back on October 31 and we'll start working our short-row heel.

{Let's Knit a Pair of Socks!} The Toe

Have you chosen your yarn and needles  yet? Have you tried them out to make sure that you're getting a suitable gauge with them? If you haven't, there's still plenty of time to get them and catch up. I'll be giving you two weeks before posting the next step to make sure that everyone who wants to knit along has plenty time.

My recommendations have all been for craft store yarns and needles because I think those will be easiest to find. If you have a yarn shop near you, by all means go and check out the gorgeous yarns they have to offer. If you want to shop online, I can't recommend Knitpicks enough. Their yarn is absolutely yummy and their prices and customer service are hard to beat.

If you're wondering if your knitting skills are up for this project, take a look at this post over at Wonkyworld about a quilter who chose Dear Jane as her first project and finished it in under a year. If you're determined and adventurous, anything is possible. (Remember my daughter's dress?)

Now let's get started!

The first thing you're going to do is figure out what size to make your socks. Stand on a piece of paper and trace closely around your foot. I'm using my smallest boy because I know how many stitches to cast on for me and Teenage Daughter and want to make sure that I'm really doing this from scratch, not memory.  Mark where the front of your ankle is and draw a line across your "pattern." That's the point where you'll start turning your heel.

Keep your piece of paper in a safe place. You'll be needing it again before too long.

A note about my toe -- When I first started knitting socks, I tried all kind of cast ons and couldn't get any of them right. Out of desperation, I finally just cast on some stitches and joined them in the round.  When I'm weaving in my ends, I sew up the little hole that's there.  It's not a flawless toe, but it works for me. If you want to learn a respectable cast on instead of taking the easy way out like I do, here's a page that has links to provisional and figure eight cast ons.

If you're using my method, here you go --

Using your cast on method of choice, cast on eight stitches. (The instructions for the toe are the same whether you're using worsted weight or sock yarn.) Knit one row.

Now we're going to distribute the stitches onto three dpns and increase those eight stitches to sixteen by knitting into the front and back of each stitch. (If you haven't done that before, I've got a quick video over on youtube.)

Knit into the front and back (kfb) of the first two stitches (4 stitches on this needle). Using another dpn, knit into the front and back of the next four stitches  (8 stitches on this needle). With another dpn, knit into the front and back of the last two stitches (4 stitches on this needle.)

Arrange your needles so that the one with the working yarn is in your right hand and the one with the cast on end of the yarn is in your left, making sure that the stitches aren't twisted around the needle. Using your empty dpn and the working yarn, knit the first stitch on the left hand needle to join the stitches into a  circle.

Now you're knitting in the round. Each time you've knit the stitches from the left hand needle onto the empty dpn, rotate your work clockwise and knit the stitches from the next needle onto the one you just emptied. (At this point, you're not turning the work back and forth like you would with stockinette stitch, you're going around and around.)

Plain Round 
Knit the stitches from all three needles. Now you're back at the beginning of the round. If it helps you keep track, you can place a stitch marker. I just remember that the beginning of the row is between the two short sections.

Increase Round 
Knit the first two stitches, then knit into the front and back of the second stitch from the end, knit the last stitch. On needle #2 (the one with eight stitches), knit one, kfb, knit to the second stitch from the end and kfb, knit the last stitch. On needle #3, knit one, kfb, knit to the end of the needle.

Alternate plain and increase rounds, occasionally checking your toe against the outline of your foot. When you have enough stitches to cover the widest point of the foot, gently try the toe on your actual foot.

Now you've got a toe! Come back on October 17 and we'll work our way up the foot.

If you're knitting along, what yarn and needles are you using?

Getting Ready to Knit Our Socks...

Are you ready to start knitting along with me? We'll cast on for our toes next Saturday. While we're waiting, let's choose the best possible combination of yarn and needles. 

I actually have three of these sets of Knitpicks double pointed needles. They come with one pair in size 0, two different size 1s, two different size 2s and one size 3. I absolutely love them, but if you don't do a lot of knitting with different weights of yarn, they might not be the best choice. I find myself using both size 1s and the smaller set of size 2s for my socks and, less often, the largest and smallest sizes for other things.

Using worsted weight yarn? Start with a needle two sizes smaller than the ones you use for your regular worsted weight projects.

With the needles you think you'll be using, cast on twenty or so stitches and use two needles to knit yourself a swatch. Knit a row, then purl a row, then knit a row....On the actual sock, you'll be knitting around in endless circles, but for this you need to alternate to get stockinette.  Knitting back and forth in rows won't give you the exact same gauge that knitting in the round will, but we're just trying to make sure that  this combination of yarn and needles will create a fabric you like.

I used size 3 needles and sock yarn for the beginning of this swatch. That's way looser than I want the fabric of my sock to be. After the garter stitch ridge, I went down to 1 1/2s (I think -- they're not labeled, but I've used them for lots of pairs of socks) and got much more suitable results.

You want a tight knit. With sock yarn, that's probably going to be 7 or 8 stitches per inch. (You don't need to measure and count unless you really want to!) If your stitches are too loose, the socks will be uncomfortable to walk around in and won't hold up as well as tighter knitting will.

Stretch your gauge swatch a bit. If there's a lot of empty space visible between the stitches, they're too loose and you can go down a needle size. If it's too tight, you're probably going to feel it while you're knitting. I've actually heard that you can't make your sock gauge too tight, although I'm sure you could if you tried hard enough.

Socks don't have positive ease like a sweater does.  The circumference of the finished sock should be the same or a little smaller than the circumference of the food that will be wearing it. Your store bought socks are probably that way, too. Notice how they stretch a bit when  you put them on?

Let's Knit a Pair of Socks

Who wants to knit a pair of socks with me? 

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you probably know that a little over a year and a half ago, my husband was in a head on collision with a drunk driver and laid up for quite a while. I coped with the stress by digging into my sock yarn stash and knitting endless pairs of socks. Thirty-four pairs and counting since the accident.

Every time I post pictures of a finished pair, it seems like at least one reader comments that she'd like to learn to knit socks.  If you're tempted, why not take the plunge and give it a try? I'm making these instructions as beginner-friendly as I can. If you can comfortably knit and purl and want to learn some new skills, I think you can do this. If you knit hats, you may even have suitable worsted weight yarn and dpns in your stash.

Over time, I've found a toe that I like, a heel that I like, the number of stitches that I need to make socks in my size. If I want to make a pair for another family member, I can adjust the numbers and still use the same toe and heel techniques. Or I could add a stitch pattern across the instep and around the ribbing.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be walking you through my sock pattern that isn't one and knitting a pair of toe up socks with short row heels.  My plan is to post a new step every two weeks so that hopefully everyone who wants to participate will have time to keep up.

Here's what you need if you want to knit along.

Yarn 

I'll be including instructions for both a worsted weight and fingering weight version of the socks.

For an adult pair, you'll want 100 grams (about 400 yards) of fingering weight. I've made short-cuffed adult socks with 100 grams of worsted weight, but I'm going to suggest that you start out with an extra skein. Knitting is more fun when you aren't worried about running out of yarn.

There's some nice sock yarn available at Joann's and Michaels. I like Lion Brand Sock-Ease, Patons Kroy, and Red Heart Heart & Sole. Sock yarn comes in 50 or 100 gram skeins, so check the label to see if you need one or two skeins.

For worsted weight socks, 100% wool is a good choice, as long as you don't accidentally run your socks through the washer and dryer in the leg of your jeans. I've used Lion Brand Wool-Ease and wear those pairs happily with my sneakers. I've also used Red Heart Strata (very similar to Super Saver) and don't recommend it. That pair literally squeaks. But the stripes are pretty!

Needles

You'll want a set of 6 or 7" (that's the length) double point needles in a size that gets the gauge you want (more on that in a second) I strongly recommend wooden or plastic needles because they hold onto the stitches a little better.  For the fingering weight socks, you'll want somewhere between size 1 and 2. For worsted weight, I've used between 3 and 5. The wrapper on your yarn skein will suggest a needle size. Don't pay attention to it. For socks, you'll want smaller needles to get a much tighter gauge than you'd use for a sweater.

Next Saturday, we'll talk about what kind of fabric you want for your pair of socks and on September 26th we'll measure our feet and start to knit. If you plan on knitting along, please leave a comment so I know I'm not doing this all by myself!

Getting Started
The Toe
The Foot 
The Heel