Knitting Socks

by Patty Ramsey 

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01-27-03

I have been working on some socks. I usually have several projects going at once so if you are wondering about my weaving, well I'll get back to it later! Knitting is easier when you want to sit in the living room near the fire. My loom is upstairs in my bedroom so I usually work up there when I get an afternoon to spend. The socks I'm working on are being knit from some yarn that I dyed in a workshop last year. The colors all came from mushrooms. If anyone is interested in the process, find the book, "Mushrooms For Color" by Miriam Rice at your library or bookstore. The colors I have to work with are all those colors that were popular in the '70's: shades of gold, orange, tans, avocado - all those earth-tones.  I have one sock finished and am starting on the mate.

02-03-03

 Nita asked me to explain my sock knitting a little bit. I'll give you a few hints on knitting with four needles this time and then maybe I'll go into more sock detail later.  Knitting with 4 needles is really just like knitting with 2; you just have 2 extra waiting until you get to them. Your stitches are spread out onto 3 of the needles and the 4th is your "working" needle. Once you have worked all the stitches off of one needle the new empty needle assumes the "working" role. The tricky part at the start is to not twist your stitches at the beginning. I usually straighten all my stitches out and even them up before I start that first stitch which forms the circle. Another helpful thing to eliminate any gaps between needles is to work the first stitch of each needle and then tug slightly on the yarn to close up the gap before you work the second stitch. Don't tighten too much, just enough so you cannot tell where the needles change.  For anyone who would like to follow along with me as I knit a pair of wool socks for my teenage daughter, practice knitting in the round with a 2 x 2 rib. This means you will need a number of stitches that is a multiple of 4. ( And you thought you would never need that math knowledge! )  The socks I am making are using a homespun wool that is the equivalent of sport weight and size 5 needles. I have cast on 40 stitches ( there's that multiple of 4! ) and I will work that 2 x 2 rib for about 6 inches. The following inside the border is the part I had asked for more details. It did not appear in the original version.

Make sure all the stitches are not twisted on the needles. Be especially careful where they jump from one needle to the next. You should have 3 needles with stitches divided on them. Take your 4th needle, it will be your working needle, and pull the other needles around into a triangle so that the yarn can be used in the end of the first needle. You will be starting with the first stitch that you cast on. Knit the first stitch and give the yarn a gentle tug to pull up any slack between the two needles and to prevent "laddering" as you go from one needle to the next. Now work your stitches, I think it was k2 p2 rib. When you get to the end of the first needle, use the newly empty one to work the next needle and be careful not to twist those stitches. Keep your rib pattern as you work. Always work that first stitch and tug. I sometimes re arrange the stitches so that each needle is beginning with a k2. You can do this but just put the original count back on them when you get to the heel. You can use the tail of yarn to keep track of the beginning of the rounds. I hope this gets you started.

02-11-03  

We are ready to start the heel flap of our sock. We will be working back and forth like normal knitting for this part so you can have a short break from that 4 needle stuff. The first thing you need to do is work one stitch and then move it onto the needle ahead so it becomes the last stitch there. This will center the ribbing on each side of the heel flap. Now knit across 20 stitches and keep them all on one needle. You are not working the ribbing, just knit. Once you have those 20 stitches on one needle, divide the remaining stitches onto 2 needles and just let them alone for now. We will be working back and forth across these 20 stitches. This happens to be half of the total number of stitches you started with. ( Here is one of those formulas to remember if you change stitch count later on in your sock knitting addiction! ) Now turn the sock  and slip the first stitch as if to purl. Purl the next stitch. Slip the next stitch. Purl the next, and so on across the row. You are slipping every other stitch and purling every other stitch. You should end with a purl stitch. Turn your work. Now slip the first stitch as if to knit and then knit across. Only slip the FIRST stitch on the knit rows and slip the first stitch and every other stitch on the purl rows. This will create a double thick heel flap. Continue with these two rows until you have 10 slipped rows. The slipped stitches at each edge will make it easier to pick up stitches when we get that far and the slipped stitches are easier to count up the knitted side of the flap. When there are 10 slipped rows, which means 20 total rows, the flap should be approximately square. If it is a little rectangular, that's ok. And we will end here for now. The biggest sock challenge is coming next----- turning the heel! After you accomplish that feat (or feet! ) sock knitting is conquered! You will wonder why you didn't try this sooner!

02-22-03

Once your heel flap is nearly a square, it is time to turn that heel.  You will be knitting short rows; that is you will not knit to the end of each row. Just follow these instructions and it will go smoothly and you will be past the "hard part" of making socks.  End the heel flap with a purl row. Now slip the first stitch and then knit the next 9 stitches. Knit one more and then knit two together. To do this decrease and have the stitches match the corresponding ones that will be on the other side, I usually slip 2 stitches as if to knit and then knit them together. But you don't have to do it this way if the look of the heel decreases doesn't matter to you. Just pick a decrease method and use it for the whole heel. Ok, we decreased one now knit one more stitch and TURN. Yes, turn in the middle of the row.  Now you will be purlling. Slip that first stitch, purl the next 3 stitches. Purl 2 together and then purl one more and TURN. Now we are knitting again. Slip that first stitch, and knit until you are one stitch from the gap that was formed between the half row and the original row. Knit this last stitch and the one on the other side of the gap together, and knit one more and turn. We are purlling again. Slip that first stitch, purl to within one stitch of the gap. Purl the next two stitches together, purl one more and turn. You can see we are slowly using up those stitches that got left at each edge by decreasing over the gap and working one more stitch. Continue in this manner until all the stitches at each edge are used up. Don't worry if you don't have that one stitch to work at the end, after the decrease. Just turn and do the same thing in the opposite direction. you should end with a purl row even if it means just working a purl row across.  I think I'll end here. If anyone has stuck with me so far, I have a feeling there will be questions at this point. And I'm typing this from memory so I may have something wrong but try it and let's see how it goes. The gusset and more decreases are coming next, but it is all downhill from here!

03-10-03

Well, sorry to keep everyone waiting for the rest of their sock. Hope your toes didn't get too cold!

Once the heel is "turned" count how many stitches you have left on the heel only. Write this number down or just remember it for a few minutes. You should have the yarn on the left side of a needle when the sock is hanging with the right side of the heel flap facing you. If it isn't, knit across the heel so that it is. Now you will be picking up and knitting the stitches along the edge of the flap. The slipped stitches will make this easier. With another needle, pick up the first stitch nearest the heel and knit it onto the needle with the rest of the heel stitches. Then pick up and knit the next stitch and so on until you reach the stitches that have been patiently waiting there in the ribbing. With another needle, work across the ribbing and keep the ribbing pattern going. Now you should have one needle with the heel and side on it and another needle with the ribbing on it. Now with another 2 needles, pick up and knit the same number of stitches you picked up on the other side of the heel. When you reach the end, work HALF of that number you wrote down or memorized from the beginning.  This divides the stitches on three needles with a break in the center of the bottom of the foot, and one on each side. Work these stitches for one round, knitting everything except your ribbing stitches ( which should number 20.) From now on I will refer to the needles by a number. Needle number 1 will be the first needle that starts from the center of the bottom of the foot. Needle 2 is the ribbing and Needle 3 is the needle that ends in the bottom of the foot. Make sure you always start with needle 1. Now we will decrease the gussets. Knit to within the last 3 stitches of needle 1. Knit 2 together and knit the last stitch. Work needle 2 in ribbing. Knit the first stitch of needle 3, then slip 1, knit 1, and pass the slip stitch over the knit stitch. That decreases your count by one. Knit the remaining stitches on needle 3. On the next round, just work the stitches even, no decreases. Make sure to keep your ribbing going and there are no decreases in the ribbing. Then do a decrease round as explained above. Then work a round even. Keep alternating in this way until you have the original number of stitches - 40 - and then just work the sock even until the foot is about 2 1/2 inches shorter than the foot that will be wearing it. Keep the stockinette stitches at the bottom of the foot and the ribbing at the top. Now we can decrease for the toe. This toe will work for only a sock made with a number of stitches divisible by 8. Disregard the needle placements now. Move stitches from one to another needle to make it easier on yourself. Knit 6, knit 2 together, knit 6, knit 2 together, and repeat this pattern to end of round. Now knit 6 rounds even. Next, knit 5, knit 2 together, knit 5, knit 2 together, and repeat this to end of round. Now knit 5 rounds even. Next, knit 4, knit 2 together, knit 4, knit 2 together and repeat this to end of round. Now knit 4 rounds even. Continue in this way decreasing and working the plain rounds until you have worked only one plain round. Knit 2 together all the way around. Cut yarn long enough to thread that tail through the remaining stitches and then remove them from the needle. Pull tight and weave in the end.  Weave in the beginning tail of yarn. Your sock is finished. I hope you are excited enough to do its mate! Try on that sock and you'll be knitting the other one as fast as you can. If you discover sock knitting isn't your thing, maybe you can decorate this one and use at Christmas on the mantle!

Hope everyone is enjoying a taste of spring (finally!) We still need our fire at night but seeing the bright blue sky and feeling the warmth of the that sun sure does a body good.

Patty

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