Month: July 2015

Hi friends!

Have you ever wanted to make knitted socks but were a little scared of the process? Well, then I have some really interesting stuff for you today. Imagine there is a way how to knit socks using straight needles only and all you have to be able to do is to just knit and purl.

Doesn’t it sound great?

 

It definitely did sound gorgeous to me once our teacher taught us how to make these when I was about 12 years old. It’s actually a funny story – that teacher only arrived once to substitute for our ‘real’ teacher who was sick that day. She came, showed us how to make these socks and left. Boom! Just like that. I have to admit that it was probably the most remarkable and enriching class in my whole course of education, college included. 🙂 (Thank you, dear teacher, I will never forget you!)

 

Ever since I learned how to make these simple socks, I have made many a pair. And I mean – MANY! I was quite obsessed with them for some time and kept filling the drawers of my family members and friends until completely full.

And now I think the time is right to share with you. I think you might need a pair or two of your own.

Here are all the details…

 

The socks in this tutorial were made to fit my feet, which are size 40 – Europe / 6.5 – UK / 9 – US.

To make the socks I used worsted weight yarn in pink and yellow color.

I have used about 3.5 oz (100 grams) of main yarn and a small amount (not more than 1 3/4 oz – 50 grams) of yellow yarn.

I also used 5 mm (US – 8, UK – 6) knitting needles, scissors and a darning needle.

 

And here’s the secret!

All you basically need to do is to create this shape. Easy, right?

You then sew it together in two steps and that’s it.

 

And here you can see all the parts explained.

 
TO ADJUST THE SIZE

This picture is also useful if you plan to adjust the size of the sock to a different foot size – the main parts that need to be measured prior to making the sock are the cuff width, the back leg part and the sole part (from the narrowest point of the heel to the narrowest point of the toe). After you knit the toe part, the rest is just the sum of sole and back leg rows.

For example, in my pattern the ‘back part of leg’ has 30 rows and the ‘sole’ part has 42 rows. After I knitted the toe part, I continued with 72 rows (30 + 42) to form the ‘instep and the front part of leg’.

Also, when knitting other sizes, make the narrowest rows of the heel and toe part 4 stitches wide.

 
PATTERN
(for foot size 40 – Europe / 6.5 – UK / 9 – US)

cast on 24 stitches

Back Part Of Cuff
Rows 1 – 4: k1, p1 [stitch count: 24]

Back Part Of Leg
change colors (optional)
Row 5: knit all [24]
Row 6: purl all [24]
Rows 7 – 34: keep alternating Row 5 and Row 6 [24]

Heel
change colors (optional)

(EDIT: To make the sewing easier in the end, in the heel (and toe) rows where decreasing is involved, I recommend joining two first/two last stitches. So, for example, in Row 35, you: knit 2 together, knit 20 following stitches and knit 2 together. In the heel (and toe) rows where increasing is involved, I recommend increasing in the first/last stitch. That way no larger holes will appear and the finishing sewn seems will be neater.)

Row 35: k1, knit 2 together, knit 18 following stitches, knit 2 together, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [22]
Row 36: p1, purl 2 together, purl 16 following stitches, purl 2 together, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [20]
Row 37: k1, knit 2 together, knit 14 following stitches, knit 2 together, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [18]
Row 38: p1, purl 2 together, purl 12 following stitches, purl 2 together, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [16]
Row 39: k1, knit 2 together, knit 10 following stitches, knit 2 together, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [14]
Row 40: p1, purl 2 together, purl 8 following stitches, purl 2 together, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [12]
Row 41: k1, knit 2 together, knit 6 following stitches, knit 2 together, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [10]
Row 42: p1, purl 2 together, purl 4 following stitches, purl 2 together, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [8]
Row 43: k1, knit 2 together, knit 2 following stitches, knit 2 together, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [6]
Row 44: p1, purl 2 together, purl 2 together, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [4]

Row 45: k1, make/increase 1 – knit it (I like to lift the yarn lying between the stitch just worked and the next stitch and place it on the left hand needle, then knit (or purl) into the back of this loop), knit 2 following stitches, increase 1 – knit it, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [6]
Row 46: p1, increase 1 – purl it, purl 4 following stitches, increase 1 – purl it, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [8]
Row 47: k1, increase 1 – knit it, knit 6 following stitches, increase 1 – knit it, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [10]
Row 48: p1, increase 1 – purl it, purl 8 following stitches, increase 1 – purl it, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [12]
Row 49: k1, increase 1 – knit it, knit 10 following stitches, increase 1 – knit it, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [14]
Row 50: p1, increase 1 – purl it, purl 12 following stitches, increase 1 – purl it, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [16]
Row 51: k1, increase 1 – knit it, knit 14 following stitches, increase 1 – knit it, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [18]
Row 52: p1, increase 1 – purl it, purl 16 following stitches, increase 1 – purl it, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [20]
Row 53: k1, increase 1 – knit it, knit 18 following stitches, increase 1 – knit it, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [22]
Row 54: p1, increase 1 – purl it, purl 20 following stitches, increase 1 – purl it, bring yarn to the front and slip last stitch as if to purl [24]

Sole
change colors (optional)
Row 55: knit all [24]
Row 56: purl all [24]
Rows 57 – 96: keep alternating Row 55 and Row 56 [24]

Toe
change colors (optional)
Rows 97 – 116: repeat Rows 35 – 54

Instep + Front Part Of Leg
change colors (optional)
Row 117: knit all [24]
Row 118: purl all [24]
Rows 119 – 188: keep alternating Row 117 and Row 118 [24]

Front Part Of Cuff
change colors (optional)
Rows 189 – 193: k1, p1 [24]
Row 194: cast off making k1, p1 [24]

 

Assembling The Sock
Assembling the sock is really easy. It consists of 2 steps.

Step 1: Using a piece of yarn and your darning needle, fold the heel at its narrowest part (Row 44) and sew it together on both sides.

To sew my knitting, I like to use an invisible mattress stitch.

 

Just like this.

 

A closer look.

 

And here’s a side view of the sewn heel.
 

Step 2: Fold the toe at its narrowest part (Row 106) and sew together both sides of the sock, starting at the toe and ending at the cuff.

 

Finally, weave in all the tail ends on the wrong side.

 

Wasn’t that easy?

I wish you a lot of fun with this project!

With lots of love,

Petra

… and here’s a little recap