Knitting Socks

My Go-To

General info:

• cuff-down / top-down

• fingering yarn, 100g (50g per sock)

• 2.5 mm needles double-pointed needles

pattern:

1. cast on 64 stitches using german twisted cast on

2. 3 inches of knit 2 purl 2 ribbing

3. 5 inches of stockinette

4. german short row heel (either 11/10/11 or 10/12/10 stitch split)

5. X inches of stockinette, where X is the length of the foot less the heel and toe

6. german short row heel for toe

7. kitchener stitch to close the hole

8. weave in loose ends

9. wash and block

General

A sock is just a tube with a closed end at the toes, a bend at the heel, and ribbing at the cuff.

There two basic ways approaches to socks:

• toe-up: start with a few stitches (tyically 4 on a needle), then increase to the final size. The benefit of this is that you don’t need to know you’re final stitch count in advance since you can try on the sock.

• cuff-down: need to know how many stitches up front

There are several ways to do the heel, here are some popular options:

• afterthought: very easy, it’s the toe in reverse (decrease instead of increase); can be done after the main tube of the sock is complete. Typically, you knit a lifeline out of scrap yarn which is picked up.

• short row: what you see on any store-bought socks

• dutch/square

Socks can be done on double-pointed needles or circular (magic loop) needles.

They can be done one at a time, or two at a time. When done two at a time there are several approaches.

These videos are not in-depth but give you a basic overview of what you’re trying to accomplish:

• How to knit the easiest sock in the world - by ARNE & CARLOS PART 1.: toe up, using afterthought heel

• How to knit the heel of the easiest sock in the world - by ARNE & CARLOS PART 2.: slightly more in-depth w.r.t. the afterthought heel

• How to knit a short row heel for a sock by ARNE & CARLOS

• T he Arne & Carlos videos show patterns from their website: https://arnecarlos.com/?s=easiest+sock

Short Row Heel

• German

• wrap around