Hand-knitting socks/hose

[gsmacleod]

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?

I used worsted and garter stitch; they are quite stretchy.

I like the idea of jout stockinette but I've got a pile of projects in front of me so I may never actually get to it. The biggest problem is that they take quite a long time to knit. The last couple pairs I've done I've just done a single wrap instead of twice around.

Shane

[piperalpha]

Very good stuff. I’m going to start knitting as well. My dad used to make Aran sweaters. I wish I’d learned from him before he passed away. My mum is going to teach me. Should be interesting as I’m a lefty. I want to knit some of the pairs of socks I see on the forum and traditional kilters. I’ve usually got some time between when I eat dinner before my
stomach settles enough to play my bagpipes.

[Tobus]

Very good stuff. I’m going to start knitting as well. My dad used to make Aran sweaters. I wish I’d learned from him before he passed away. My mum is going to teach me. Should be interesting as I’m a lefty. I want to knit some of the pairs of socks I see on the forum and traditional kilters. I’ve usually got some time between when I eat dinner before my
stomach settles enough to play my bagpipes.

Go for it! Just in the few short months I've been knitting, I've found that it's a great way to fill those idle bits of time between other routine tasks. And I find it to be a relaxing way to settle in for the evening. I'm not much of a TV watcher anyway, so it gives me something to do while hanging out with the wife and dogs in the living room in the few hours before bedtime.

I can't advise on knitting as a lefty, but in my experience it's not a technique that is necessarily specific to a dominant hand. Each hand has a task, and it's more about the fingertips working together to feed the needle into the stitches, loop the yarn, etc. And there are multiple ways to do it (i.e. continental style versus English style, etc.) which use different hands/fingers to achieve the same end result. The most important thing, in my opinion, is to always knit from the left needle onto the right needle. If you do it the opposite direction (which some people do), it will be very difficult to follow patterns or instructions or follow videos for different techniques. Honestly, knitting is going to take a bit of learning what your hands are supposed to do anyway, so I would very much suggest experimenting with the various methods to find what works best for you ... but keeping the direction of knitting consistent with the norm.

I'll also say that aside from learning all the techniques and such, the biggest thing I had to adjust on my expectations for knitting is the time it takes to get anything done. If you're only knitting for a few minutes each day, it can take weeks or months to finish even a small project. For example, even with a thick yarn like worsted/aran weight, a pair of kilt hose will take somewhere around 24,000 stitches to complete. I'm not a super-fast knitter, and I only get to knit for about 1-2 hours a day, so it takes me two weeks to make a pair of crew-length socks. It takes more like a month to complete a pair of tall boot socks or kilt hose length socks. I've had to learn to be patient and just focus on the project stitch-by-stitch, avoiding my usual temptation to set schedules and timelines for reaching certain milestones on my projects. My speed is picking up, but still... knitting is not one of those instant gratification type activities.

I finished this pair of socks a few days ago. Two weeks worth of knitting. Now I'm going to go back to a fingering-weight yarn for the next pair, which will make a thinner sock but take way more stitches to complete. So much slower going.

[piperalpha]

Go for it! Just in the few short months I've been knitting, I've found that it's a great way to fill those idle bits of time between other routine tasks. And I find it to be a relaxing way to settle in for the evening. I'm not much of a TV watcher anyway, so it gives me something to do while hanging out with the wife and dogs in the living room in the few hours before bedtime.

I can't advise on knitting as a lefty, but in my experience it's not a technique that is necessarily specific to a dominant hand. Each hand has a task, and it's more about the fingertips working together to feed the needle into the stitches, loop the yarn, etc. And there are multiple ways to do it (i.e. continental style versus English style, etc.) which use different hands/fingers to achieve the same end result. The most important thing, in my opinion, is to always knit from the left needle onto the right needle. If you do it the opposite direction (which some people do), it will be very difficult to follow patterns or instructions or follow videos for different techniques. Honestly, knitting is going to take a bit of learning what your hands are supposed to do anyway, so I would very much suggest experimenting with the various methods to find what works best for you ... but keeping the direction of knitting consistent with the norm.

I'll also say that aside from learning all the techniques and such, the biggest thing I had to adjust on my expectations for knitting is the time it takes to get anything done. If you're only knitting for a few minutes each day, it can take weeks or months to finish even a small project. For example, even with a thick yarn like worsted/aran weight, a pair of kilt hose will take somewhere around 24,000 stitches to complete. I'm not a super-fast knitter, and I only get to knit for about 1-2 hours a day, so it takes me two weeks to make a pair of crew-length socks. It takes more like a month to complete a pair of tall boot socks or kilt hose length socks. I've had to learn to be patient and just focus on the project stitch-by-stitch, avoiding my usual temptation to set schedules and timelines for reaching certain milestones on my projects. My speed is picking up, but still... knitting is not one of those instant gratification type activities.

I finished this pair of socks a few days ago. Two weeks worth of knitting. Now I'm going to go back to a fingering-weight yarn for the next pair, which will make a thinner sock but take way more stitches to complete. So much slower going.

thank you. That was very helpful. I’m going to learn to knit right handed. If it’s not meant to be of not meant to be and I’ll gladly pay a craftsperson to do so. YI’m fairly good with my right hand from Piping. I’m a carpenter by trade. I’m always having to do things with my right hand at work.

[gsmacleod]

FWIW - I'm a lefty as well and knit right. Since I was taught by my mother (who's right handed) I just knit that way.

Shane

[Verity]

I would respectfully suggest that it might be counterproductive to knit UK style but reversed, with the left hand being the working hand. When you come to do two-color work (such as a Sanquhar check) you will need your left hand for working the second color continental style.

[Pleater]

Knitting is something which tends to evolve over time - the more you do the more you find better ways to achieve things.
I have never seen any pattern done the same way as I do my hosen (my grandmother spoke a rather old dialect and also knitted socks) but I don't seek out patterns because I have never needed one, though they turn up from time to time.
I have knitting needles which are very small indeed, so never have much difficulty with reducing the stitch size - I'm working with size 2.5mm at the moment.
When making long socks I make them long enough to fold over, so that if necessary a ring of elastic can be put under the turn over.
I find that hand made socks are so very comfortable. When I was younger I often used to go walking in the Pennines and later on the South Downs and never got rubs or blisters.
One thing I do is start the toe by making a rectangle about 2 inches of stitches and enough rows so that there are 3 or 4 long stitches showing on the edge on both sides - the 3 is for thicker yarn, 4 for finer. I then use double pointed needles and knit around all four edges doing yarn over knit the long stitch at the short edges, so the 4 long stitches becomes 9. I make a temporary cast on so that when it is pulled out there is no hard edge and it is almost impossible to tell which was the first row except for the tail of yarn.
I also make a left and a right sock, increasing a few st at the inner edge and more on the outer. The increases are done on the short sides, 5 or 7st apart every other round.

Anne the Pleater

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 have a few knitting details of needles size, yarn size no of st and rows etc. if anyone is interested - though the UK uses different designations for yarn thickness - but if anyone is interested let me know.

Anne the Pleater

[Tobus]

I have a few knitting details of needles size, yarn size no of st and rows etc. if anyone is interested - though the UK uses different designations for yarn thickness - but if anyone is interested let me know.

Anne the Pleater

Yes, please share!

Most of my knitting is worsted/aran weight, using 4.5mm needles. I get a gauge of 6 stitches per inch and 8 rows per inch.

With 4-ply/fingering weight yarn, I'm using 3.5mm needles and getting about 8 stitches per inch and 10 rows per inch.

After I finish my current pair of socks for my wife, I'm going to try DK/sport weight yarn, so I'll have to figure out my gauge for that. What needle size would you use for this weight yarn?

In between sock projects last week-end, I had my first go at stranded colourwork with a simple dicing pattern. It really wasn't as complicated as I had made it out to be in my head, although it will take some more practise to adjust my tension and spacing just right so the strands don't pucker the front (which they're doing a little bit of in the pic below). I'm really itching to make diced kilt hose and Gairloch pattern hose!

[Verity]

I love that you are using the Gairloch pattern! What a wonderful story it is that goes with it.

Just like Anne, I grew up knitting socks and now my family won't wear anything else, so patterns haven't been necessary for plain socks in nearly 40 years. I don't use metric measurements; my needles are all old Commonwealth number 13 and 14, and one set of 17s.

I did have some fun a couple of years ago, making some hose for my husband. As you can see, I did the Gairloch pattern too, among others. I also made a couple of patterns up, and completely re-wrote the one for the top from Rae Compton's book, because it made no sense to me.

I used the following sources:
https://www.amazon.com/Designs-Knitt.../dp/0942018079
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book.../dp/0684178664
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37456

I find the intentional accentuation of the calf in Ryder's book quite intriguing.

Verity

IMG_20230407_150501.jpgIMG_20230401_143654.jpg