Hand-knitting socks/hose

[EagleJCS]

I don't know why I find this hilarious, but I do. When I start knitting a toe-up sock and get past the toe increases, I switch over to circular cable needles with a stitch marker in place for the beginning of my round.

At that point, the toe of the sock looks like a little German hat.

That puts me in mind of the hats Richard Scarry draws on Lowly Worm.

Wow, that makes me feel old!

[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?

[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?

I do stockinet at the ankle with a centre back purl stitch, then a little way above that, after that purl, K 4, make a purl stitch using the bar between stitches, knit around and make another purl stitch 4 stitches from the centre back purl. I have notes of how many rounds to do for various gauges.
Once I have P1 K4 all the way round I start to convert it into P1 K2 and gradually convert all the way round.

For the heel I isolate enough stitches to knit the sole as a sort of tongue shape, with short rowing at the end. I then pick up stitches around the edge and knit/purl around, doing either K2 together or P2 together at the end of each row to join the heel onto the side of the foot. Once I reach the ankle I go back to knitting around, and I decrease 4 stitches and convert a K to a purl for the centre back - the decreases are done as two pairs a few rounds apart for a perfect fit.

Anne the Pleater

[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.

[Patty Logan]

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.

Have you ever knitted anything else? I hear garter ties(not flashes) are easy enough to make and can event be made from spare wool that was left over from the hose.

5DFF84C1-42CE-4CAD-834D-42D92C0767CE.jpeg

[Tobus]

Have you ever knitted anything else? I hear garter ties(not flashes) are easy enough to make and can event be made from spare wool that was left over from the hose.

The thought has crossed my mind, and is on my list of projects to get to. The thing about garter ties is that the commercial types are usually woven, not knitted. The stretch factor is much less with woven construction. This isn't to say they couldn't be knitted (and indeed many have done so), but one would need to size them carefully so that they don't end up too short or too long after stretching when they're tied.

Also, based on the woollen garter ties I have from HoC, they appear to use a very fine yarn that's smaller than anything I could knit with. Even the smallest sock yarn is a #1 size, or fingering-weight (4-ply) yarn which, I believe, is about twice the thickness of the 2-ply yarn I see in garter ties. Again, this isn't to say that one couldn't knit garter ties with a larger yarn, but they might end up bulkier and more coarse in appearance. At any rate, I will give it a go at some point just to satisfy my curiosity.

I also want to try my hand at knitting a necktie or two. I love knit ties, and there are a lot of opportunities for custom colours and textures (stitch variations) one could do.

So many projects, and so little time to do them!

*edited to add:

The project currently on my needles is a plain pair of crew socks for wearing to work. I'm still making some adjustments to my technique and yarn tension because I'm not completely happy with the way my 2x2 ribbing looks, but I am finding that I'm getting faster with my knitting.

This photo shows the lovely texture of the eye-of-partridge stitch pattern that I use around the heel to thicken it up a bit. I go from basic stockinette stitches in the foot to eye-of-partridge on the short-row heel, then a few more rows of stockinette around the ankle before 2x2 ribbing up the leg and a 1x1 ribbing at the top cuff.

[gsmacleod]

Have you ever knitted anything else? I hear garter ties(not flashes) are easy enough to make and can event be made from spare wool that was left over from the hose.

5DFF84C1-42CE-4CAD-834D-42D92C0767CE.jpeg

You certainly can knit garter ties and I've done a few pairs over the last few years.

Here's the basic pattern that I started with:

http://pragmaticpizza.blogspot.com/2...-hose.html?m=1

Shane

[Tobus]

You certainly can knit garter ties and I've done a few pairs over the last few years.

Here's the basic pattern that I started with:

http://pragmaticpizza.blogspot.com/2...-hose.html?m=1

Shane

I noticed that the trials on the page you referenced used worsted weight yarn. Is that what you used? I would have thought that a sock-weight (fingering) yarn would be more comparable to the traditional garter ties (to reduce bulk)? I also noticed that those were done with garter stitch, which seems like a stretchier option than going with plain stockinette. Have you experimented with different yarn weights and stitch choices?