Hi, Sock-buddies! This post will be primarily of interest to my current workshop group who joined us at
All Strung Out this morning, but if you're a knitter browsing by and interested in starting with socks, do read on. I will perhaps work in the future to make this post a permanent document of an annotated Sock Recipe. This is not a "pattern" per se, but my notes and references to good demonstration materials for each structural element of a Toe-Up Sock.
Part 1 of my workshop was about our "exercises" to get you started - cast-on options, and turning a heel. HOWEVER! The goal is indeed to get a sock out of this, and many of you want a pair of them by Christmas, of course. So this is a quick list to tutorial materials either to review what we did in class or point you to some options.
Casting On:
While there are many ways to cast on, I primarily use two. The simplest is the Turkish Cast-On, also called the Eastern Cast-on. The most popular tutorial on this top (based on Google's top listings!) is by Debi, aka
FluffyKnitterDeb on
Ravelry and Blogger.
Debi's Turkish tutorial is a great presentation of an old technique and puts my photo insert from the class notes to shame.
The second method is known as
Judy's Magic Cast-on, developed by
Judy Becker and published in
Knitty in Spring 2006. This looks more complicated (it isn't really terrible!) but provides a slightly more reinforced toe, and is recommended if you are a sock-wearer whose toes will wear out first.
TOES - Increasing
A sock toe has two rows or "rounds" when we are knitting in the round, a round where you increase, and a plain knit round.
I use a kf&b increase, that is "Knit Front and Back". A YouTube video presenter known as TheKnitWitch has a super, short, easy-to-see
tutorial on this increase for you to review.
Remember while working that a "round" is worked across both your needles - make sure you increase a total of FOUR times, that is, at both ends of both needles.
Round 1: Kf&b, knit to last TWO stitches, Kf&b in the second last stitch, then K1. Repeat on bottom needle, which is your second half of the round.
Round 2: Knit all stitches, Top needle and Bottom.
Repeat rounds 1&2, until you have the correct number of stitches for your size of sock.
There are other increase methods you can use, and if you're feeling adventurous, head to Google or YouTube and look up "knitting lifted increase" or "LLinc and LRinc". You'll see these next week in the workshop.
FOOT:
Now, this is the EASY, but time consuming part, which is why it's homework. Just knit around. Knit all stitches on both needles, and the tube which is the foot of your sock will grow out of the toe you have just finished. The experienced knitter can add stitch patterning on the Instep (top) needle if desired.
Knit until the sock, including the whole toe, is 3 inches less than the total foot length you need. Total foot length is from the tip of the longest toe to the back of the heel, while you are standing.
GUSSET:
The sock gusset is the part of a sock where it gets bigger to accommodate the anatomical structures of heel, instep, and ankle all meeting.
The gusset is another set of increases, using the kf&b increase as we did on the toe, BUT, you work these increases ONLY on the sole stitches. This is where it becomes important that you know which needle is your instep/top needle, and which is your sole/bottom needle. Use a stitch marker, loop of scrap yarn, or even a paperclip, slipped either onto the needle or through your knitting (but don't snag it) to distinguish one side.
The gusset also has only two rounds, which repeat.
Round 1: Knit all the stitches on the Instep needle. On the Sole needle, kf&b, knit to last two stitches, kf&b, K1.
Round 2: Knit all stitches, instep and sole.
Repeat THESE two rounds until the Sole needle is carrying twice as many stitches as the Instep needle. For those in the workshop, you will have doubled the number of stitches on the Sole needle only, and you will have 16, 30, or 36 on the Instep needle, and 32, 60, or 72 on the Sole, for a total of 38, 90, or 108 stitches all the way around.
Finish with a Round 1, do not yet knit the last Round 2. We will pick up here on Week 2 of the workshop.
If any of you are keen and want to go ahead and turn your heel, Make sure you read the "Set Up for Heel Turn" part of the notes, and place your stitch markers. The set up basically involves spreading a few extra stitches through the gussets to provide extra room and flexibility. If you ARE going on to this part yourselves, you might want to look at
Cat Bordhi's YouTube video on
LLinc and LRinc, as we want to use a different method to increase those extra stitches.
Cheers ! See you next week.
Camera Flash:
And Camera Flash:
Blue Face Leicester, Early Winter Sunset, natural light.
And camera flash: 
And with the flash:
