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28th February 23, 12:55 PM
#1
Hand-knitting socks/hose
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.
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