Knit Socks

Do you have a cool yarn that you just can't wait to make into socks? Get back to basics and try these steps.

You will need to know how to knit, purl, cast on and cast off. This pattern requires you to knit from the toe upwards. It also requires double pointed needles.

Steps

  1. Choose the yarn you'd like to use. Be aware that yarn that is too thick will not make very practical socks––though it will make a nice set of slippers!
  2. Choose double-pointed needles to fit your wool. As this sock pattern is symmetrical, you will need five needles: four to hold the work, and one floating needle to work the sock with.
  3. Try this cast-on, which means that you won't have to sew the toe up later. Take two needles and wrap the yarn around them in a figure-of-eight. Each loop will become a stitch. For small to medium socks cast on eight loops on each of the two needles, and for large socks cast on ten.
  4. Take a third needle and knit each loop on the first needle. Then take the first needle and knit the stitches on the second needle. The stitches should now be on the first and third needles. These stitches are allowed to become loose, as you will be tightening them up later.
  5. Notice how the stitches, when knitted on each needle, are suspended between the two double pointed needles. You should find this cast on gradually less awkward!
  6. Using the third needle (the floating needle), knit 1, make 1 (using the loop between stitches). Knit until you are halfway over the needle. Insert a marker, to mark the centre-back of the sock. Take a new needle, and knit until there is one stitch left, make 1 and knit the last stitch.
    • To make one stitch hold your work flat and find the yarn from the previous row suspended between the needles. Pick it up using the tip of the right-hand needle, move it onto the left-hand needle and knit it as if it were a normal stitch.


  7. Do the same on the second casting-on needle. The work should be symmetrical and there should be all four needles active plus one floating needle. On large socks you should have six stitches per needle, and on smaller ones you should have five.
  8. Remember this pattern of adding a stitch at the second and penultimate stitch on each side. Knit the first row (all four needles), and add stitches in this way to the next. Every other row, add stitches in this way. Continue until you have 11 (small), 12 (medium), 13 (large) or 14 (very large) stitches on each of your four needles.
  9. Knit until the sock is about 4cm (1.5") from the back of the heel when tried on. (If the foot is not present, ask for measurements in advance!)
  10. Begin working the heel. Keeping the end-stitches very tight will prevent structural holes. This method is called Knit Short Rows.
    1. Switch to a new mode: work only on the two needles on either side of your marker. Leave the two needles for the front of the sock idle, and knit back and forth (using knit and purl) on the back two needles to construct the heel. Treat these two needles as one––you can even slip them all onto one needle, as long as you can keep the symmetry going.
    2. The first half of the heel involves systematically putting stitches "on hold". Knit all stitches except the last, then slip the yarn to the front of the work (between the needles). Slip the unknitted stitch onto the other needle and slip the yarn to the back of the work again. Turn the work around, and slip the unknitted stitch back onto the empty needle––then continue to purl as usual. This should result in the unknitted stitch being "a row behind", looking like it has been looped by the yarn. It will be "on hold" until you pick it up again later. It will remain on the needle, and there will always be the same number of stitches on the needle.
    3. Purl the rest of the row except the last stitch, "wrapping" it in the same way, leaving it unknitted and dormant.
    4. Turn the work and knit, until there are two left on the needle (one of which is dormant). Wrap this second-to-last stitch as before, and turn the work. Purl all but the last two stitches, wrap the second-to-last stitch, and turn the work.
    5. Each row, wrap the next stitch in until you've wrapped seven stitches on each side. The last row of this process should be purling, followed by wrapping the seventh stitch.
    6. To finish the second half of the heel, begin picking up the stitches one at a time. Knit one row, and when you get to the first wrapped stitch, pick up the loop at the same time and knit it. Wrap the next stitch again. Then turn the work around and start purling. This stitch is now "active" again.
    7. At the end of each row, pick up and "reactivate" another stitch, knitting the loop with the stitch. Each time you do this, wrap the next inactive stitch as you did when de-activating them.
    8. When you've reactivated all the stitches, you should have a heel-shaped piece of knitting. The last row of the heel should be a purl row, and you should pick up and activate the last of the wrapped stitches.
  11. Get all your needles back to normal again, with four active needles (symmetrical) and one floating needle. Knit until you reach the part where the heel joins the main part of the sock that you've been ignoring.
    • If at this point you continue to knit, there will most likely be a little but annoying hole in the ankle where the heel rejoins the sock. The next step is written in to prevent this.
  12. Continue to knit the whole four needles as you were before you started the heel. When you get to the part where the heel rejoins the main sock, pick up the yarn from between the two needles and make a new stitch. On the next pass, knit this with the stitch next to it, two together. This will prevent the annoying hole. Do the same thing on the other side of the heel.
  13. Continue to knit until you're an inch or two from the top, and then begin to k2p2 (knit 2, purl 2) for the ribbing. Ribbing will prevent the top of the sock from curling up - though if you'd like a pixie-boot effect for slippers or similar then feel free to ignore this step!
  14. Cast off very loosely, even looser than you think might be needed, because tight casting-off can mean that your sock is hard to get on and uncomfortable.



Things You'll Need

  • Yarn
  • Knitting needles, possibly double-pointed set of 5
  • Knitting pattern for socks

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Knit_Socks&oldid=357035"