Getting Started Knitting Socks - Part 9 - Finishing Socks

After weaving in the loose ends, and cutting off the extra yarn at about 1/4 inch, the finished socks were put in a zippered, open mesh, nylon laundry bag and put in the front-loading washing machine on Normal Cycle, Cold/Cold, Medium Spin Speed, with other laundry items. When done, they were laid out flat, on a drying rack, to dry.

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These socks are too big. For one thing, I did not calculate a 10% negative ease when I was figuring out what size to make the socks. I probably would have made a snugger sock by casting on 44 stitches, rather than 48 stitches. My gauge swatch was correct: I knitted 5 stitches to the inch. Live and learn. The socks are very soft, and very warm. Overall, I'm pleased with my very first pair of Adult-Sized, Cuff-Down, needle-knitted, wool socks.

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This is the first time I've managed to get the Kitchener Stitch (pronounced: "Kitchen - er") to come out so well defined. The way I did it was to weave in the yarn very loosely with the tapestry needle, through all the stitches, until they were off the needles. Then I went back to the very beginning and found the yarn that went through the first loop, and began tightening it up from there, until all the slack had been taken out, and the tension was even across the tip of the toe. The proper way to do the Kitchener Stitch is to adjust the tension to match the rest of the knitting as you go.

The Kitchener Stitch has a Setup, then repeats a Pattern until all the stitches are off the needles. The final four stitches are put equally on two parallel needles, which are called the Front Needle and the Back Needle. The working yarn comes from the right end of the Back Needle, and is cut off from the ball of yarn at about 18 inches, then threaded through a tapestry or darning needle.. It is important to keep the working yarn under the Front and Back needles at all times.

Setup:

1. Bring the tapestry needle through the first loop on the Front Needle as if to purl (from right to left).
2. Bring the tapestry needle through the first loop on the Back Needle as if to knit (from left to right).
The Setup is done only once.

Pattern:

1. Front Needle: Bring the tapestry needle through the first loop as if to knit, and slip this loop off the needle. Bring the tapestry needle through the next loop as if to purl, and leave the loop on the needle.

2. Back Needle: Bring the tapestry needle through the first loop as if to purl, and slip this loop off the needle. Bring the tapestry needle through the next back loop as if to knit, and leave the loop on the needle.

3. Repeat steps 1. and 2. of the Pattern until all the loops are off both needles.

When you finish, insert the needle into the inside of the sock and weave in the tail on the wrong side.

Blocking.

I threw the socks into the washing machine, then laid them out flat to air-dry, as described above, for blocking.

Getting Started Knitting Socks - Part 7 - Foot

The foot is knitted in St st until the piece measures 8.75 inches from the back of the heel, or about 2.25 inches less than the desired total foot length. For this pair of socks, I knitted the foot until it came to the base of my big toe when I tried it on.

While knitting the foot, I made the decision to shorten my bamboo chopstick double-pointed needles to six inches. Now, there's not a lot of extra needle sticking out from the sock while I'm knitting. They were 8.875 inches long when I started. Each needle is now a little over six inches long.

I have run out of yarn right before starting the toe. This is one of the best reasons for making toe-up socks (if you run out of yarn making toe-up socks, you just make the leg shorter). Fortunately, the yarn I'm using is a staple at the LYS, so I was able to buy another skein of yarn in the same colorway and lot number. I'll have left-over yarn.


The foot of the socks is finished, shown here on 4 dpns.


This is a picture of my socks project bag, which used to be a storage bag for king-sized sheets. It also has a little pocket which I use to store needles, scissors, stitch markers, whatever. The top has a zipper. I like it because I can see through it.

The next part of the sock is the toe.

Getting Started Knitting Socks - Part 6 - Gusset

Picking up the stitches.

Once the heel turn has been made, it is time to pick-up the stitches along the selvedge edges of the heel flap. The first stitch of each row on the heel flap was slipped to make a selvedge that is easy to pick up. I ended up with fourteen stitches at the end of the heel turn, and thirteen stitches are picked-up on the first needle. Ann Budd gives three different ways to pick-up stitches. I chose the Pick Up Both Stitches method. In this method, the gusset stitches are picked-up through both halves of the edge stitch, the yarn is wrapped around the needle, as if to knit, then the yarn is brought through to create a new stitch on the needle. Then twelve stitches are knitted on the second and third needles, which hold the instep stitches. Next, thirteen stitches are picked-up along the other side of the heel flap, on the fourth needle, plus seven stitches of the heel turn row. At this point, the working yarn is in the center of the heel. Each round, for all the gusset decreases, start in the middle of the heel. There are 20 stitches on needle one, 12 stitches on each of needles two and three, making 24 stitches on the instep, and 20 stitches on needle four. That is a total of 64 stitches. The objective of the Gusset Decreases is to get back to 48 total stitches, or 12 stitches on each needle.

The decreases are made using k2tog on needle one, and ssk on needle four. This is what the pattern looks like:

Gusset Decreases:
Rnd 1: pick-up sts as described above.
Rnd 2: On needle 1, knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1; on needles 2 and 3, knit across all instep sts; on needle 4, k1, ssk, knit to end (2 gusset sts dec'd).
Rnd 3: knit
Rep Rnds 2 and 3 until 48 sts rem (12 sts on each needle).

Since there is a decrease round, followed by a knit round, I used a stitch marker to mark the stitch at the beginning of each decrease, and removed the stitch marker and pinned it through the center of the heel on the knit round. So the gusset decreases looked like this:

Rnd 01: pick-up sts on heel flaps (64 sts)
Rnd 02: k17, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k17 (62 sts)
Rnd 03: k62
Rnd 02: k16, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k16 (60 sts)
Rnd 03: k60
Rnd 02: k15, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k15 (58 sts)
Rnd 03: k58
Rnd 02: k14, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k14 (56 sts)
Rnd 03: k56
Rnd 02: k13, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k13 (54 sts)
Rnd 03: k54
Rnd 02: k12, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k12 (52 sts)
Rnd 03: k52
Rnd 02: k11, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k11 (50 sts)
Rnd 03: k50
Rnd 02: k10, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k10 (48 sts)
Rnd 03: k48



The finished gusset decreases. The working yarn is at the middle of the heel, so each round starts there.

Next, the foot is knitted in St st until the piece measures 8.75 inches from the back of the heel, or about 2.25 inches less than the desired total foot length.

Getting Started Knitting Socks - Part 4 - Heel Flap

The Heel Flaps on both socks are completed. The heel flaps were worked back and forth as follows: Row 1 (RS): *Sl 1 pwise wyb, k1; rep from *. Row 2 (WS): Sl 1 pwise wyf, purl to end. Rep rows 1 and 2 until a total of 24 rows have been worked (12 chain selvedge sts). There are 24 sts on the heel flap needle, and 12 sts on each of the two instep needles. The next step is the Heel Turn, which involves Short Rows.

Getting Started Knitting Socks - Part 3 - Leg

I have finished the cuff and the leg of each sock. The cuffs are 3 inches, at 5 sts per row, or 15 rows. The legs are about four inches, or 31 rows. I will thread a lifeline into the loops before I commence with the heel flap. Up until now, I was knitting with 4 DPNs. I just switched to knitting with 5 DPNs after reading that there is less of a chance of ladders developing at the joints where the needles meet. I can already feel the difference. Socks have structure. These are the 5 Stitches Per Inch Basic Sock, knitted on US 9 bamboo chopstick needles. On the legs I'm getting about 5 sts by 7 rows per square inch in St st, so far.

The next step is the Heel. The instructions for the Heel are: K12, turn work around and with same needle, p24 - 24 heel sts on one needle. Place rem 24 sts on spare needle(s) or holder to work later for instep.



Once those two rows are completed, the Heel Flap is next:
Work back and forth on heel sts in rows as foll:
Row 1: (RS) *Sl 1 pwise with yarn in back (wyb), k1; rep from *.
Row 2: Sl1 pwise with yarn in front (wyf), purl to end.
Rep Rows 1 and 2 until a total of 24 rows have been worked - 12 chain selvedge sts.


In the past, when doing the Training Socks, I had trouble remembering to slip the first stitch. This time around, I'm going to remember to do it. It makes it so much easier to pick-up stitches later, for the gusset decrease.

So far, I've knitted 48 CO sts, plus 48 sts X 15 rows of cuff, plus 48 sts X 30 rows of leg, for a total of 2208 sts X 2 socks, or 4416 sts, not counting correcting mistakes.

Getting Started Knitting Socks - Part 2 - Cuff

I've finished the cuff on both socks. The cuff was done with K2, P2 Ribbing, and was 15 rows, or 3 inches. It was slow going, and in spite of trying to pay close attention to correcting mistakes, a few crept in anyway. Still, this is the best I've done since I learned how to kit. The most common error I'm making is forgetting to put the yarn in front of the needle, or behind the needle, when making a knit or a purl stitch. I will put a lifeline through the loops that are on the needles, before I start working on the legs. I'm planning to do the legs in St st, so maybe the progress will be a little faster. The pattern says to work pattern of choice until leg measures 8.75 inches from CO, or desired length to top of heel. If I go the full 8.75 inches, I have 5.75 inches to go. I averaged 5 rows per inch in the cuff. If that continues to hold true, I'll need to knit about 28 or 29 rows to get to the top of the heel. I'll see how it looks at 5, 6 and 7 inches and make a decision.

Getting Started Knitting Socks - Part 1 - Cast-On

Since finishing the Class Sock from the sock class at the LYS, I've felt confident that I can knit a basic pair of cuff-down socks.

The first thing I did was measure my feet. They were 9.875 inches in circumference around the ball of each foot, and 10.75 inches long.

The next thing I did was to knit a gauge swatch in-the-round, using the yarn I purchased, and the US 9 bamboo dpns I made. I cast-on (CO) 30 stitches, then started knitting in Stockinette Stitch (St st).

When knitting St st in-the-round, knit every row. I knit the swatch 4 inches long. Then I threaded some scrap yarn through the loops, and removed the dpns. In most places, the swatch had 5 stitches per inch. Some places had 4.5 stitches per inch. Anyway, I decided to go with the 5 Stitches Per Inch Basic Sock pattern in Ann Budd's book, Getting Started Knitting Socks (GSKS).



Next, I transcribed the pattern, using just the numbers for an Adult Large size sock. I typed the pattern as a plain text file, using just the knitting abbreviations and the numbers for the Adult Large sock size. Then I copy-pasted the text file into OpenOffice.org Writer, and formatted it with Bold and Italics to make it easy for me to read. Finally I exported it as a PDF file and printed it out. It printed to two pages. I can mark-up the printed pages, and not have any marks in the book.

The first instruction is to CO 48 stitches (sts), join, and work 8.75 inches in the pattern of your choice.

I used the Long Tail CO, then slipped 16 sts onto three bamboo dpns. Then I did the Cross Over Join (as described in GSKS), and proceeded to do a couple of rows of k2, p2 ribbing to hold it all together. I did this for both socks. My plan is to do each step of making a sock, to both socks. CO-CO, cuff-cuff, leg-leg, heel-heel, gusset-gusset, foot-foot, and toe-toe. Hopefully I will not experience Second Sock Syndrome, which I understand leaves many socks without a partner.


The ball of yarn on the left was the one I used to do the gauge swatch. After measuring the sts/inch on the gauge swatch, I ripped it out to use in the socks. That's why there is a small ball of yarn beside the big ball.

Notice the difference in the shape of the balls of yarn? I purchased two hanks of yarn, and the owner of the LYS wound one hank into a cake for me. Later, when I went back to the LYS to get the other hank wound into a cake, a different person wound it for me. Each person used a different tension on the yarn when they were winding it on the wool winder, and as a result, the cakes of yarn look slightly different.

At the time of this writing, I have about 3 inches of cuff knitted for one sock. I will be posting pictures when I have the same amount of work on both socks finished.