Can I Learn To Knit Socks? (archive)

[HeatherC]

How hard is it to make socks? I want to make a bunch - 12 pair - of baby socks as a shower gift. I have about four or five months.

Keep in mind that my knitting thus far, after about a year, has been restricted entirely to rectangles and squares. (I am a scarf-making MACHINE, people, it's like a sickness, I can't stop.)

So. Should I look into getting a tutor, should I buy an instructional book, should I abandon all hope and purchase the little suckers? I trust you ladies with my needles, so advise away.

[rivercat]

that totally sounds reasonable. I haven't actually made any socks yet, but I really like looking at the twisted sisters sock workbook.

[moonunit55]

Ok-

I am a very recent sock convert and I say YES!!!! Socks are easy socks are fun, I love knitting socks.

And for reference - the Twisted Sisters sock workbook is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but not exactly the place to start for beginners.

Start with an easy sock pattern, there are many online or in yarn stores. I've seen beginner sock patterns sold as single sheets in my lys.

Look at the pattern and buy your needles and yarn based on what it calls for <---very important so that you can get the right gauge.

I knit them on two circular needles and I encourage you to try this way but you will most likely do it on double pointed needles (which are the work of satan I am convinced)

OK, I have to run but I am going to post a tutorial on how to do socks on circular needles sometime next week, I just need to knit a sock and take pictures as I do it.

[crazybones]

You can absolutely, 100% make socks.

I would, if I were you, start making a toddler pair in a worsted weight yarn. That way, you won't lose your mind, like you could if you used sock weight wool. Plus, you'll get done quicker, and I think that after you make 1 pair od socks, you'll totally get the picture.

Also, although some people prefer to use 2 circular needles, I like using doublepoints instead, because you don't need to spend the money to buy an extra set of needles. I like to get doublepoints in sets of 5 (instead of sets of 4), a smaller length set (say 4" long.) Brittany makes a set like this. I use US size 5 needles, and I lovelovelove worsted yarn.

There are patterns for 2 needle socks, but I'm lazy, and I hate to sew, so I have never tried that method.

The two semi-tricky parts of sock knitting are 1) using dps and 2) turning the heel.

For the first, I think that using a set of 5 makes things easy to work on, because the knitting is spread out over more needles, causing less strain in your work. 2 Circs would accomplish the same thing, btw. You knit on two, and the other needles kind of hang out. You can teach yourself this, but it might be nice to have someone show you. I always cheat: I cast on all my stitches on a straight needle, do a row or two, and then knit them off onto my double points.

The second slightly tricky part is turning the heel. But in the pattern, when they say turn your knitting, you do just that: you pretend you've gotten to the end of the row, and you literally turn your knitting to the other side. You might want to see this done as well, but it's just exactly what they say it is.

The best pattern I think is from Ann Budd's Handy Guide to Knitting. The book has a variety of sizes, from preemie to adult male, and in all the gauges of yarn, from fingering to bulky. It also has a glossary in the back to show you how to do decreases and how to graft the toes (if you want to.)

But really, if they are for babies, you don't even need to know how to turn a heel. Babies can't walk, they have chubby feet, and making a heel is nice to get a good fit for people who actually use their feet, you know?

Anyway -- if you decide not to make a heel, learn to use dps, and make a big tube and decrease at the toe. You could probably do this:

* for about 3/4" do a k1p1 rib stitch.
* For the rest, do a straight stockinette (in circular knitting, this will just be the knit stitch).
* When the sock is long enough to go from the leg to the ball of the foot, mentally divide up the stitches and place two markers between the first and second halves.
* On every round, decrease after each marker by knitting two stitches together. If you want, you can do the first one by knitting two together and the second one by doing ssk (see the link below.) It doesn't really matter for a simple infant sock. For a real sock, it does.
* When you have a few stitches left, say 4-8, cut the yarn, leaving a really long tail, and take a yarn needle and run the tail of the yarn through the stitches on the needle, twice. Pull out the knitting needles, pull the tail and cinch the stitches together. You can run the yarn needle through the middle of the sock and knot the end through one of the stitches to secure the yarn. Then cut the long tail and that's it.

You might use a dk weight yarn, to get them done quickly. You can use US 5's here too.

Here's the link for decreases:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring03/FEATtheresa.html

Here's where you can get short needles

edit: if you make real socks, and you don't have someone to show, you, just google "sock knitting". There's gazillions of pics on the web. But really, start with worsted weight. You'll thank yourself later.

[HeatherC]

Y'all rock!! Thanks for the encouragement and the tips. I'm going to give it a shot, but I think I'm going to look into a tutor. I have never, ever been able to teach myself anything knit-related from printed words. I have to be shown everything. My LYS has tutors that will sit down and give you a lesson in whatever it is you want to learn - I'll just go in with my supplies and say, "Teach me to make socks! The knitting Glitterati (Knitterati?) say I can learn how!!"

And Crazybones, I too love the worsted weight yarn. The scarf I'm wearing today is worsted weight.

[knits]

I think you can do it too! It was so much easier than I thought it would be. I suck at learning from directions with spatial stuff too. Once somebody taught me about double pointed needles and I realized I could make socks with worsted weight yarn I was good to go. I found the instructions at http://www.royea.net/sockdemo1.html to be must easier to follow than those of my pattern so I followed them. Good luck! I know you can do it!

[abbygirl7]

I, too, am interested in venturing out of the scarf-making arena. However, I was thinking of starting with a hat. What is easier to make - a hat or a sock?

Can you sock-makers post some pics of some of your finished creations? I'm curious to see the possiblities.

Thanks,
abby

[knittykat]

A hat is probably easier than a sock. The primary challenges with socks, I have found, is learning to use double pointed needles (or any other methods out there) and decreasing, and also the issues presented in using very thin yarn. You must be comfortable knitting and decreasing in order to be successful on your first sock attempt.

It is not that any of these things are *hard*, it's just that trying to 3 new things at once is harder and more overwhelming then just 1 new thing. If you are comfortable knitting and decreasing, I'd say go for the socks, but if you need some decreasing and pattern-following practice, make a couple of hats first.

A good first-sock pattern is the Seabury Socks. Google it and you will find the pattern. They are made on two needles and from worsted weight yarn, which removes 2 of the challenges of ordinary sock knitting. They are heavy bootweight or Birkenstock-weight socks with a seam up the back. Even if you just wear them as slipper-socks, it's a good practice exercise!
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"Fun is where you find it." --jackierocket

[crazybones]

[HeatherC]

Ok, so I can knit in the round on dpn's. I bought a book, handed it to my brother, and said, "Tell me how to do this." That worked! He can't do it himself but he understood the directions, and I'm hopeless with directions but could do the knitting.

I got the cuff made and that was fantastic, very empowering. Then the heel flap did me in. I'm going to try your big tube/decreased toe, Crazybones. These are for a newborn; it's not like she's going to be walking around on them so I don't need a heel, I don't think.

[knittykat]

I agree that newborns probably do not need a heel. For future reference, this is a general, plain-English explanation of what happens when you make a sock heel.

Okay, you're going along making a cuff on 4 needles (I always use a total of 5 needles for socks.) Working from the beginning of the round, you have, going clockwise, needle 1 (close to you, left hand), needle 2 (across from you, left side), needle 3 (across, right), needle 4 (close, left). Combine the stitches on needles 1 and 4 onto one needle.

For the heel flap, forget about needles 2 and 3 and just work back and forth (just like flat knitting) on your 1/4 combo needle. Your heel flap should be in the neighborhood of 2-3 inches long for an adult sock.

Turning the heel: once you reach a couple of inches (whatever the pattern directs) on your heel, it is time to work a few decreases using short rows. Say you have 24 stitches on your combo needle. You will knit a portion of those, say, 17, ssk, then stop and turn (even though you haven't finished the row). Then you will work back enough so that you have an equal number of 'leftover' stitches on that side, k2 tog, turn, and go back. Now you have a section of knitting in the middle with a gap on each side. Each time you knit back, grab 1 more stitch after the gap in your decreases, until you have worked all the stitches.

To pick up stitches for your heel, you just grab stitches from along the sides of the heel flap. At this point, you will want to divide the stitches back onto 4 needles, with needles 1 and 4 having picked up stitches + half of what was on the combo needle, and needles 2 and 3 having their original amount. Needles 2 and 3 do not get decreased until the toe.

Does that help?
_________________
"Fun is where you find it." --jackierocket

[HeatherC]

Not even a little bit! :) I'm telling you, written directions for knitting might as well be in Sanskrit.

BUT! I will print this out and give it to my brother, the knitting translator genius. Eventually I'm sure I'm going to want to make grown-up socks, so it's as good a time as any to learn how to turn the stupid heel. Since, you know, you HAVE to do it if you want to make socks. I'm sure that with Joshua instructing me, and your kind assistance, I will be able to do this.

[crazybones]

[crazybones]

Now -- if someone could explain to me how the whole gusset thing works when you go from the toe up, I'd be appreciative. I'm making these:


http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/socks/john-anderson.htm

and I got to the heel part, but I'm confused slightly as to get from the empty gusset to the leg styling.

[seedcake]

i've finished two tubes, one of which has a heel, now, but seem to always leave off when it comes to finishing them. i'm giving the socks-on-two-circulars thing a try because i think my stalling has something to do with always busting my tiny double-pointed needles...

anyways. here's a good tutorial that also has explanations about gussets and other sockish brain melters.

http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/socks.html

*s*
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snowfling, snowfall, snowfall,
listen, listen,
listen, baby,
listen." ~ yoko ono