Sock Knitting 101 - Sock Knit Along - Part III - Final Segment

Oh my, I can't believe I've been writing this sock tutorial for these past few of weeks.  Have you enjoyed reading or knitting along?  I hope so.....anyway, this is the last segment and it's going to be easy.  So, let's get started. (if you've discovered this blog, the previous links to Sock Knitting 101 can be found at the bottom of this post)

Note:  I just found out that I made a mistake in last week's post....I called the "instep" the "leg"...I hope I didn't confuse you!  Sorry :(

Instep:
Last week you had completed the gusset and now we are ready to knit the instep or foot.  Just continue to knit each row in the round until the instep measures approximately 2" from your desired length.  You can measure from the end of the heel.  At this point, I slip the sock on my foot with the needles and all!  It works for me and it's easier to gauge the length.

 The photo above shows the instep is completed and ready for the toe decrease.  We will continue to work with three needles.

Toe Decrease:
We are going to be decreasing stitches, similar to how you decreased with the gusset but the decreases will be taking place on each needle as follows:

Row 1:  Knit each stitch
Row 2:  Needle 1:  Knit to the last 3 stitches then K2tog, k1
             Needle 2:  K1, SSK, knit to the last 3 stitches then K2tog, K1
             Needle 3:  K1, SSK, knit to end

Repeat these two rows until you have approximately 12 to 16 total stitches remaining.  The stitches remaining will be sewn together with the kitchener stitch and become the toe.

 Above in the photo you can see the completed toe decrease.

Kitchener Stitch:
The kitchener stitch is a seamless grafting technique that allows you to weave the live stitches on your needle so that it looks like it was knitted.  It came about during World War 1.  Socks played a big part in the war and the seams of the socks would irritate the soldiers feet.  Thus, they came up with this seamless toe.  This particular stitch is to obtain a "knit" or stockinette type weave.  It's a different technique if you are purling.....


To begin, after you have completed the toe decrease, knit across the stitches of needle 1.  You should now have only two needles with an equal number of stitches on each needle.   Cut your yarn leaving approximately a 12" tail.  Thread the yarn through a tapestry needle and begin following the directions below.

Holding your two needles with wrong sides of fabric together (as shown in the photo above), start the following steps:
Step 1: insert the needle as if to knit through the first stitch on the front needle and let the stitch drop from the needle,
Step 2: insert the needle into the second stitch on the front needle as if to purl and pull the yarn through, leaving the stitch on the needle,
Step 3: Insert the needle into the first stitch on the back needle as if to purl and let it drop from the needle, then
Step 4: insert the needle as if to knit through the second stitch on the back needle and pull the yarn through, leaving the stitch on the needle

Repeat steps 1 through 4 until all stitches are gone.  Thread in tail of yarn and secure.

Notes:  Please adjust your tension as you go along in this process.  Also, it's best to perform steps 1 through 4 without any interruption or you may get off track.

Sorry that this is not such a clear picture as my black yarn is hard to photograph.  But, you can see how it looks when completed.

Your sock is now complete!  You can celebrate or you can start on the second one.....
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.  It's been fun for me to share my passion of knitting socks.  But, I have a friend who is really an expert in this field and she will be bringing out an e-book for sock knitting.  I highly recommend that you bookmark Winwick Mum and keep in touch for her upcoming sock tutorial.  I'm sure you will enjoy it so much.

I'm linking to Handmade Monday  Until next time, happy knitting and thanks again for reading along. Also linking to Frontier Dreams.

Pat

In case you just discovered this post and wish to follow the sock knit along from the beginning, you can click on the links below.....
Introduction
Part 1
Part II

Sock Knitting 101 - Sock Knit Along Part II

It's been a week since I posted Part I of this sock knit along.  Are you having fun knitting socks?  Today, we're going to continue forming our sock and the next part is....

Heel Flap:
Count the number of stitches on your needles.  Divide that number in half.  (I have 44 stitches on my needles; 11 stitches on each needle).

1.  Your live yarn is at the end of needle 4.
2.  Transfer the stitches from needle 2 to needle 1 (I now have 22 stitches on needle 1)
3.  Just leave needle 3 and needle 4 alone at this point (don't worry about them for now)
4.  You now will be working on the stitches on needle 1 (needle 2 is no more for now....)

In the photo above, needle 1 is in the front of the photo with needles 3 & 4 crossed behind.  You are going to ignore needles 3 & 4 and only work on needle 1.

The first rows of the heel flap will be worked as follows:
1.  K1, *K1, S1*, repeat between * * to end of row, turn
2.  S1, P to end, turn
3.  S1, *K1, S1*, repeat between * * to end of row, turn

In the photo above, I have completed the heel flap and did 1 row of straight knit.

Repeat rows 2 & 3 until heel flap is approximately 2" to 2 1/4" long.  (I had 11 repeats of rows 2 & 3).  At this point, end with a completed row 2 (purl row).  Then do 1 row of straight knit stitch across needle 1.

 We are now ready to start turning the heel.  This begins with the wrong side of the sock.

Turn Heel:
You should have ended up with your work now on the wrong side (purl side).  We are going to "turn the heel".  Basically, you are going to work a set number of stitches in the middle.  One of these stitches will be combined with a stitch on the side by either K2tog or P2tog, until all stitches are used up on the needle.

To better explain what I just said....here's a photo of Row 1 of Turning the Heel.  You can count the slip 1, purl 12 stitches on the right needle.  Can you see the white yarn markers in the middle?  There are 4 stitches between the white markers.  And on the left needle, there are 9 stitches and on the right needle there are 9 stitches to the right of the right side marker.  This photo was taken before I completed the  P2tog,P1 of row 1.

Row 1.  S1, p12, p2tog, p1, turn (this is based on 22 stitches on needle)*See Notes below
Row 2.  S1, k5, k2tog, k1, turn (6 stitches at end of needle before turning)
Row 3.  S1, p6, p2tog, p1, turn (4 stitches at end of needle before turning)
Row 4.  S1, k7, k2tog, k1, turn (4 stitches at end of needle before turning)
Row 5.  S1, p8, p2tog, p1, turn (2 stitches at end of needle before turning)
Row 6.  S1, k9, k2tog, k1, turn (2 stitches at end of needle before turning)
Row 7.  S1, p10, p2tog, p1, turn (0 stitches at end of needle before turning)
Row 8.  S1, k11, k2tog, k1, turn (0 stitches at end of needle before turning)

 This photo shows how your stitches should look at the end of Row 2.  Do you see the pattern of 6 stitches to the left and 6 stitches to the right?  You will continue purling two stitches together or knitting two stitches together until there are no stitches left.  You will end up with all the rows completed and if you started with 22 stitches, you will have 14 stitches left at the end of row 8.

Here's a photo of the completed heel.  You should have a nice little "cup" shape for the heel.  If it doesn't look OK, feel free to unravel your stitches to the beginning of this segment and start again.  I've done that many times....
Notes:  When you are slipping stitches, be sure to keep the tension tight on the slipped stitch.  You don't want "gaps" in the heel.  Also, these numbers listed above were using 6 ply yarn or worsted weight yarn.  You may have more stitches.  If so, your "middle group" of heel stitches may be increased one or more stitches.  Just be sure your stitches are evenly grouped so that your heel will be even and not lopsided.

Gusset:
This is a fun part of the sock to compete.  Don't be worried....we are going to be working with stitches placed over 3 needles....but we will adjust the stitches to the appropriate needle.  But, first we have to pick up some stitches.

 You are going to be picking up stitches from the edge of the heel flap.  I usually pick up the stitch towards the "outside" of the stitch.  I picked up 13 stitches but it depends on what size your heel flap is.

Here is the needle showing the 13 stitches that have been picked up.

Here's what you are going do:
1.  With a new needle, pick up 13 stitches (or how many you need) from the heel flap.
2.  With a new needle knit across the 22 stitches from the instep of the foot.
3.  With a new needle, pick up 13  stitches (or how many you need from the heel flap, and knit 7 stitches from the heel.  Place a marker at this point since this will now be the ending of each row.
4.  You are now going to do 1 row of knit all the way around but there is one more needle to adjust the stiches on....
5.  You are now going to begin a new row (count this row as Row 1 - see below), knitting all the way around.  With a needle, knit the 7 stitches from the heel and with the same needle, knit the 13 pick up stitches from the instep.  This now completes stitches for needle 1.  With needle 2, knit the stitches across the instep of the foot. With needle 3, knit the pick up stitches from the instep and the 7 stitches from the heel.

 

This is how your work should look now.  You should have 3 needles; Needle 1 with 1/2 the heel stitches and the pick up stitches, Needle 2 with the instep stitches and, Needle 3 with the pick up stitches and the remaining heel stitches.

I now have the following stitches on my needles:
Needle 1 = 20
Needle 2 = 22
Needle 3 = 20

That a total of 62 stitches and I need to decrease down to 44 stitches.  Again, you will be knitting in the round and doing the decreases at the end of needle 1 and beginning of needle 3. Below is the pattern for the gusset  decrease rounds. You will now do Row 2 (aka decrease row) shown below.

The photo above shows needle 1 of Row 2 before the decrease.  These last three stitches on needle 1 will be worked as:  k2tog, k1.

Row 1.  Knit all stitches
Row 2.  Needle 1: Knit to the last three stitches, k2 tog, k1
             Needle 2: Knit all stitches on Needle 2
             Needle 3: Knit 1 stitch, SSK, knit to the end
Repeat these two rows until there are 11 stitches* on both Needle 1 and Needle 3, for a total count of 44 stitches*.
*Note*  I started with a total of 44 stitches.  I have 22 stitches on the instep (Needle 2).  So I am going to work these decreases until I have 11 stitches on Needle 1 and 11 stitches on Needle 3 for a total of 44 stitches = the same amount of stitches I originally started with.  Your pattern may have 48 stitches, or 40 stitches, so adjust accordingly.

In this photo, you will see the gusset taking shape after doing a few rows of knit one row, decrease one row....

Until finally you have reached the end of the gusset and you have the correct number of stitches on your needle.

If you don't want to wait until next week's post, you can go ahead and start the instep and knit every row until the length is approximately 2" less than what you need.....

Next week I will post the info for Instep, Toe Decrease and Kitchener Stitch.  Please don't be shy - feel free to comment.  I love to hear from you.

Happy knitting,
Pat

I'm linking up at a fun, new party over at Lucy Blossom Crafts 
and also at Frontier Dreams 
and today you can find me at Yarn Along
 

Sock Knitting 101 - Sock Knit Along Part 1

Welcome back to Lilly My Cat.  Do you have your yarn and needles ready to start our sock knit along?  If so, then let's start....

**********UPDATE***********After I wrote this post, I changed the size of the sock and did an initial cast on of 44 stitches; 11 stitches on each needle.  I hope this hasn't confused everyone.  Sorry.

Note:
As you know, we will be knitting these socks in the "round" using double pointed needles (DPNs).  So, please mark the end of your row with a stitch marker so that you can keep track of where you are in the pattern. If you missed the intro you can find it here

Cast On:
Depending upon what pattern you have decided to use, you will be casting on your stitches over 4 needles.  I am using 6 ply yarn and I am going  to cast on 48 stitches over four needles, hence 12 stitches on each needle.  Please do not cast on your stitches too tight.  They should have even tension throughout all the cast on stitches.

 Here is a photo of needle one with 12 stitches cast on.  The "tail" is to the right of the photo.

Here is needle 2 with 12 stitches cast on. Do you see how I staggered the needles and bound them together with scrap yarn at the bottom?  This way my needles stay in place and my cast on stitches do not get twisted....

Here is needle 3 after 12 stitches have been cast on.  I added needle three to the other needles and wound my scrap yarn around the base of the needle to keep it in place.

Finally, here is needle 4 with the 12 cast on stitches.  Again, I secured this needle with the scrap yarn at the bottom.  Your "live" yarn is at the end of Needle 4 (along with the leftover tail yarn).

Count your stitches and be sure you have the correct number on each needle.  Note:  If you are doing the worsted weight yarn pattern, you may have 40 or 44 total stitches with 10 or 11 stitches on each needle.

Carefully unwind the scrap yarn and put each needle into the shape as shown below.  Please do not twist any needle or else your stitches will be twisted.

This is how it should look before you slide the stitches on the needles to their correct position to knit....

Now, let see how it looks....

We are now going to knit the first row of the ribbed cuff.  We will pick up the "live" yarn that ended at Needle 4 and use it to knit the first stitch from Needle 1; thus connecting the needles.  We are going to be knitting in the round.  Tip:  I take the leftover of my cast on tail yarn and tie it into a bow.  This way I won't get confused and use it to knit with.

Cuff:
Now we are going to join these needles together.  Remember, there is no yarn between needle 4 (on the right) and needle 1 (in the bottom of the picture).  So, we are going to make the first "knit" stitch into the first cast on stitch of needle one.  Tip:  Your live yarn ended at the end of Needle 4 so you're going to insert your needle into the first stitch on Needle 1 and bring the live yarn over the needle and finish the stitch.  Be sure to keep the tension of the yarn tight on this first stitch since you don't want any holes....

We are now going to knit the first row of the cuff.  The cuff is usually always knit in a  rib pattern to allow for elasticity.  I am doing a "k 1, p 1" ribbing pattern for the cuff.  Repeat each row of this ribbing pattern until the desired length of the cuff. 

You will continue to knit and purl each stitch all the way around Needles 1 through 4.  At the end of Needle 4, place a marker.  As you can see, I use a safety pin.  This reminds you that this is the end of the row.  The photo above shows how your first row should look.  You can see that there are no twists in the cast on stitches.

 Here's a photo after I have knit all the rows for the ribbing.  My cuff is approximately 1 1/4" or 10 rows (using 6 ply yarn).

Leg:
You will now begin knitting the leg.  Knit each stitch for every row until the leg measures approximately 7" from cast on edge.  I knitted 43 rows.  You can add more rows if you want the sock to be longer.

Halfway done knitting the leg....

Completed leg of sock.......

This completes Part 1 of the Sock Knit Along.  I hope I haven't gotten confused.  The nice thing about socks is that you can adjust the size as you go along; i.e., the length of the leg, the length of the foot.  Sometime, I "try on" the sock as I'm knitting it to see if the size is correct.

SOCK SIZE:  I just want to share a couple of pointers for correct sizing.
1.  I knitted a pair of socks with worsted weight yarn on size 4 needles.  The pattern said to cast on 44 stitches but I cast on 40 stitches to fit a US woman's shoe size 7.
2.  For the 6 ply socks, please do not cast on too tight.  You might want to go up a needle size for the cast on and first row of the ribbing.  I made a second pair of 6 ply socks using a size 6 needle for the cast on and first row of the ribbing and then changed to a size 4 needle.  I cast on 44 stitches for a US woman's size 7 shoe size.  I hope this helps you.  But, of course all of us knit with different tension.

Part II:
On February 15th, I will post Part 2 of the sock knit along.  We will be doing the heel flap, turning the heel, and gussets.

If you have a question, please feel free to contact me via the comments and I will try my best to answer you.  And, feel free to add a link to show a picture of your sock progress.

Until next time, happy sock knitting :)

Pat

P.S.  Lilly insisted that I share this week's photo of her.  She loves all the attention she receives via this blog.....

I am joining the Yarn Along today over at Small Things

Sock Knitting 101 - Sock Knit Along - Introduction

Are you a wanta be sock knitter?  Would you like to learn to knit basic socks?  If so, then get ready to join me in a sock knitting 101 Knit Along.  Each week I will post a lesson and at the end of the course, you should have a completed sock! 

It was probably 17 years ago when I knitted my first pair of socks.  I found a pattern in a magazine and bought some yarn and started on my adventure of knitting socks.  Since I'm a self taught knitter, I didn't know that sock knitting can be problematic.   I simply followed the written directions and voila!  I had a beautiful sock that fit, too!

But, after my first initial success, I found out that there are special yarns to use for socks; sock yarn.  And, I soon replaced my archaic steel DPNs (double pointed needles) for bamboo or wood DPNs.  So, let's get started......

NEEDLES:
This tutorial is written using the standard method of knitting socks with double pointed needles (DPNs).  They come in various sizes and materials; steel, wood and bamboo.  I use wood or bamboo needles since they are lightweight and the yarn doesn't fall off them easily.

In the picture above, the needles on the left are made of bamboo, followed by wood in the middle and the far right is steel.  I strongly recommend that you use bamboo or wood.  Believe me, it will be much easier to handle than the steel ones. 

YARN:
Socks can be knit from any smooth twisted type yarn.  But there is also a specific range of yarn made specifically for socks.  Sock yarn is usually a blend of wool and nylon or another fiber like polyamide to reinforce the sock and extend the wear.  It's best to read the label and make sure the yarn you are using is machine washable.  Socks can be made from worsted weight yarn (they will produce a thick boot sock), 6 ply yarn (which is similar to sports weight yarn) and 4 ply yarn (fingering or "sock yarn") which will give you the thinnest sock of the three yarns.

 The picture above is worsted weight yarn.  This weight of yarn will knit up very fast due to the thickness of the yarn.

This is sock yarn.  It is made from 75% wool and 25% polyamide for strength.  It is known by "super fine, fingering or 4 ply".  It is a fine yarn and you will use a small needle.

Pictured above is "6 ply sock yarn".  The size of this yarn is basically between the fingering weight and worsted weight.  It will knit up a soft and plyable sock.  I purchased this particular skein of yarn from Little Knits.  I bought it at a bargain price of $7.99!

PATTERN:
Like other knitting projects, your pattern will indicate what type of yarn to use and what size of needle to use.  Basically, the thicker the yarn, the larger the needle.  For a beginner sock knitter, you may want to start with worsted weight yarn or 6 ply sock yarn.  (Worsted weight yarn is readily found and inexpensive and machine washable.) 

Here is the pattern link for socks using worsted weight yarn.  Here is the pattern link for socks using 6 ply sock yarn.

SOCK ANATOMY:

Below is my poorly made diagram of an anatomy of a basic sock.  You are going to make a "top" down sock.  This means you will start at the cuff  and continue to knit the leg followed by the heel flap, turning the heel, picking up stitches for the gusset, knitting the instep and finishing by knitting the toe.

The socks above were made with Red Heart worsted weight yarn.  It's not my yarn of choice but it's a great yarn for a first time sock knitter to knit with.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:
You are going to need the following:
1 skein worsted weight yarn or 6 ply sock yarn (machine washable)
1 set DPNs size 4
Stitch markers (you can use safety pins if you wish)
Pattern

TUTORIAL INFO:
Each Sunday (if all goes well), I will post a segment of the sock knitting 101 knit along.  It will begin on February 8th with:

1.  Cast on
2.  Cuff
3.  Leg

Basically, we will be following the sock diagram above.  As long as you know how to knit and increase/decrease, you will glide through this tutorial easily.  And, along the way, I would love to see the photos of your progress.

So, go get your needles and yarn and to make it easier, sign up to follow this blog via e-mail and that way the tutorial updates can be delivered to your inbox.  We are going to have fun!

By Sunday, February 8th, I will have the first segment of the tutorial posted.  Please feel free to comment if you have any questions.  And, one last thing, I'm linking up today at Happy Friday so stop by and meet some great people.

See you soon!
Pat

P.S.  I have seen so many lovely wintry pictures on your blogs.  But since I don't have snow here where I live in California, I thought I would share these two lovely pictures I received from my friend in Belarus: