Hand-knitting socks/hose

[Tobus]

After years of telling myself I ought to take up knitting, I finally waded in about 2 months ago. It's not nearly as scary as I thought. And it's pretty addictive! Especially for my engineer's brain who dissects it all into the mechanics of the stitches, the maths of gauge and sizing, and the experimentation with variables like needle sizes and types, techniques, and so on. I'm really enjoying it. For such a simple activity, it can get as complex as one cares to make it.

With that said, I wanted to focus on socks from the get-go. To date, I have knit a few complete socks and more half-finished socks than I care to admit. I know we have some knitters here, some of whom I have been talking to off-site. But I wanted to throw it out there for open discussion on sock knitting, in the hopes I'll learn something else along the way.

What methods do you prefer? Toe-up or cuff-down? What heel type do you prefer? What's your favourite cast-on and bind-off? What yarn weight and needle type/size work best for you? What have you learned along the way that would help someone hand-knit better socks?

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Here's a tall boot sock I just finished, and I'm working on its mate right now. Full kilt hose with a turnover cuff is on my list, but I've been experimenting with so many options for the other parts of sock construction that I haven't gotten to it yet. For now, just a tall sock.

This is a toe-up hunting sock in a camouflage-coloured variegated aran weight yarn. After much experimentation, I've settled on Judy's Magic Cast-On for an easy and flawless toe. I start with 5mm needles on Magic Loop until I get past the toe increases (I use kfb increases on each side). For the foot, I switch to a 9" circular needle, still 5mm size, to work the stockinette. At the heel, I switch back to Magic Loop and work the short-row heel using "shadow wraps" which I much prefer to the double stitches of the German short-row method. I tried something new here on the heel, using the eye-of-partridge slip-stitch pattern on the short rows. It thickened the heel like I wanted but compressed the heel pocket smaller than normal (both width and length), so I'll probably end up doing some increases before the heel on my next sock to make the heel pocket deeper and wider while still getting the benefit of a thicker-knitted heel. I may also continue the slip-stitch pattern further up the back of the leg past the heel even after I've gone back to knitting in the round, for a heel similar to a traditional heel flap. I have narrow heels, apparently, so a sock that's thicker in the heel really helps.

For the leg portion, I switch back to 9" circular needles but go down a needle size to 4.5mm when I start the k3p1 ribbing. I did some increases to work up to the calf using m1l/m1r stitches, which essentially sprouts new ribs as you can easily see in the first pic. I'm not sure I like the locations where I did these, so I'll readjust on the next sock to make them look more natural. But I do like the way it shapes the calf and keeps the ribbing at the front half of the leg straight. I have adopted the "combination knitting" style where I knit western but purl eastern. It makes for much more uniformity in my stitches. But it does take some attention on which leg of the previous stitch you work into!

At the top, I just did 2 inches of k1p1 ribbing. I stepped down needle size again to 4mm for the upper ribbing, and I really should have gone even smaller to 3.5mm for extra taper in the cuff. For the bind-off, I tried the invisible tubular bind-off for 1x1 ribbing, and it was fantastic. I made a few mistakes at first, but I got the hang of it and will definitely use it as my go-to for binding off ribbed cuffs.

I'll take any constructive criticism or advice you have to offer. As long as it takes for me to knit a sock, anything I can learn without having to experiment myself is a win. I've got 10 balls of Rowan Felted Tween yarn in my stash, calling my name for a pair of kilt hose, but that's pretty pricy stuff. So I want to work out all my bugs on these practice socks first.

[ShaunMaxwell]

As a non-knitter, non-engineer and non-mathematical type, I'm impressed!

You're a man of many talents, Tobus.

Cheers,

SM

[Tobus]

As a non-knitter, non-engineer and non-mathematical type, I'm impressed!

You're a man of many talents, Tobus.

Cheers,

SM

Eh, thanks, but I'm probably more aptly described as a man of a few acquired skills. If it took talent to knit, I wouldn't be able to do it! I have little to no artistic ability, natural skill, or even good fine-motor control. The cool thing about knitting is that it's pretty much just learning to do two types of stitches. Everything else is a variant or combination of those, applied in certain patterns. Granted, there are hundreds of ways to make those stitches with different knitting styles or techniques, and it takes a while to figure out what works best for each person. But with a little practise, anyone can do it. A lot of people, apparently, spend their knitting lives just following pre-written patterns. The fun part for me is customising and experimenting for perfect-fitting finished products.

But - I'm just getting started, I have a lot to learn, and I could see spending many years at it. So again, if any of the more experienced knitters here would like to share their preferred methods and their reasons why they prefer them, I'm all ears!

Here are a few failed or abandoned projects that I learned some valuable lessons on. Sometimes I unravel projects to re-use the yarn, sometimes I just give up and throw them in the drawer of failure.

[MacKenzie]

Sometimes I unravel projects to re-use the yarn.

Frogging.

https://rowhouseyarn.com/blogs/news/...or-not-to-frog

[MacKenzie]

Tobus, when you get past the "practice" phase, this place has some really nice yarn.


https://o-wool.com/

[Tobus]

Tobus, when you get past the "practice" phase, this place has some really nice yarn.


https://o-wool.com/

Thanks! I've bookmarked it for future shopping.

What are your favourite yarns? I'll be trying Rowan felted tweed soon, and I'm keen to try Malabrigo that I've heard (and seen) so much about. But I'm always looking for personal recommendations.

[Pleater]

[Tobus]

Anne, that is a very interesting way to do socks! Like a reverse heel-flap sort of setup. I sort of like the way the lines of stitches continue from the bottom of the foot up through the ankle and to the leg, rather than other methods where the stitches change directions around the ankle.

Is that a common way to do them in the UK?

So, I finished my second camouflage boot/hunting sock last night. I changed a few details from the first sock I made, so they aren't exactly the same in the details but still go together as long as they're hidden under trousers (which they will be). I deepened the heel pocket by a couple of stitches to make more room since the eye-of-partridge stitches around the heel tend to compress it. I also changed the manner in which I did the increases around the back of the leg.

There are still some details I'm not 100% happy with, but will apply the lessons on the next pair of socks that I'll cast-on tonight. Getting a neat and tidy closed cast-on and tubular bind-off are still things I'm working on. And despite stepping down several needle sizes for the top cuff and going to 1x1ribbing, it still doesn't reduce the size as much as I had hoped. They still stay up, but I'd like it a bit more snug. So I guess on future tall socks that I don't intend to wear garter ties with, I'll need to do some decreases for the top ribbing.

[Pleater]

I like hand knit socks - the oldest I have were first knitted 55 years ago but have been repaired a couple of times since then.
My preference is for toe up these days. Rather than do all the increases at the back I add stitches around the leg so stockinet becomes ribbing - I thought I had a photo but can't find one - I will see if I can find the socks themselves and get a photo.
I used double pointed needles so I can keep track of the top, sole and sides without needing markers.

Anne the Pleater

[Tobus]

I like hand knit socks - the oldest I have were first knitted 55 years ago but have been repaired a couple of times since then.
My preference is for toe up these days. Rather than do all the increases at the back I add stitches around the leg so stockinet becomes ribbing - I thought I had a photo but can't find one - I will see if I can find the socks themselves and get a photo.
I used double pointed needles so I can keep track of the top, sole and sides without needing markers.

Anne the Pleater

Interesting, I'd sure like to see photos of your all-around leg increases. I've considered doing the same, just to experiment. I like starting with 3x1 ribbing just above the ankle, and was thinking I might just increase in the middle of each rib, in a staggered manner, so that they all end up as 4x1 or whatever it takes to get to the calf width. It's going to take a lot of socks to do all the experiments I want to!

Doing toe-up socks, what type of heel do you prefer?