Knitting socks is one of my biggest pleasures. Often people, even other knitters will look at me as if I’m crazy and ask why on earth would one want to knit socks?
Sometimes I take the time to explain how you can play with color, fibers and design on this small project rather than on a big project. Most of the time you love it, but if you don’t and they are truly ugly, they can be socks you use for chores, or for a dyeing experiment. And if you want to use a color you will never wear, socks make great gifts. And I tell them once I started wearing hand knit socks, there was no turning back to commercially made socks.
Other times, I simply hand a person a finished sock and let them slide their hand inside the sock and get an idea of what it feels like. Often a knitter is instantly hooked, other times it takes a little longer… but I’m happy to say that most knitters that have known a while, now have a sock project going at the same time they have a larger or more complicated project going.
On this page I’ll be posting some tips on sock making as I think of them while knitting socks.
- 2nd Sock Syndrome - This is a term used for when a knitter finished only 1 sock and not the 2nd.
- 2 socks on 2 circulars- Knitting two socks on two circulars at the same time, in the effort to be cured of the syndrome mentioned above.
I have just started my first pair this way. With no instruction on how to do this, I cast on one needle and divided the stitches between the two needles and then short on time to figure out how to add the second sock, I simply cast on the stitches on a straight needles and then transferred them to the circulars… cheating.. yes.. but it worked and it was easy.
tip#1 – if using a yarn with a pattern that goes in one direction, you will get two different looking socks if you simply use one strand from the inside of a center pull ball and one from the outside. Take the time to divide the yarn into two balls.
tip#2 – Use a scale that weighs ounces if you want to make sure you have the same amount of yarn in each ball for each sock.
tip#3 – Start your cast on in the same spot of color repetition for each sock, for socks that will match.
tip#4 - Even you start at the same spot of a color repeat, socks may not be a dead match when using hand painted yarn, but they will be pretty close. Hand-painted yarn is unique and so will your socks be, unique, unlike any other. Don’t obsess about perfection (that was really a note for myself) they are only socks! Not very many people will get down on the ground to stare at your socks and see if they are matched perfectly or have any unplanned ‘design elements’.
tip # 5 – If you chat while knitting, you may just oops and knit your socks together… not a problem, just tink (opposite of knit) back the stitches and pick up the right yarn for the right sock.
My Progress so far ….
