Lindy's Knits & Laces knitting,Knitting Projects,Knitting Socks Finished Socks

Finished Socks

August 31, 2009August 31, 2009| LindyLindy| 3 Comments | 5:04 pm
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Knitted striped socks

Knitted striped socks


I finished my striped socks yesterday morning. I am pleased with how they turned out. I used a self-striping yarn from Patons Yarns and it was fascinating to see the stripes evolve as the socks knit up.

I did not really use a pattern for these socks. There are literally thousands of free sock patterns available on the internet, but you really don’t need them if you understand the basics of knitting socks. I started with a gauge swatch and used my foot measurements to determine the number of stitches I needed. The “how to” of this seems to be enough for a separate post, so I will place that in my queue for future topics.

I choose to do a picot hem at the top of the cuff, a 3 by 1 rib for the cuff and instep, a slipped stitched heel flap with a square heel turn. My mentors for these socks were Nancy Bush – I consulted her book “Knitting on the Road” for advice on the square heel and Cat Bordhi, whose book “Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles” contains a wealth of information on how to knit socks.

Knitting socks on two circular needles

Knitting socks on two circular needles

I used the two socks on two circular needles for this pair of socks. I prefer to knit socks two at a time, because when you’ve finished, you have a pair of socks and don’t have to go back and knit that second sock. You can knit socks two at a time using either two circulars – as shown here in my photo – Or you can use the magic loop technique. I started another pair of socks last night using this technique – so I’ll post about them later.

3 thoughts on “Finished Socks”

  1. Holy cow! I just finished the first sock of my pair this afternoon (well I need to stitch up the toe). I love how that striped pattern turned out. Did you buy the yarn locally here?

    Oh and could I take a look at that Cat Bordhi book this week by chance?

  2. I haven’t knit any socks at all yet. When I consider the skills I have I think I could manage to knit socks, but when I consider the feet I have, I can’t believe that I could get them to fit.
    Your socks are so pretty–I look at them, I sigh, and wish I could.

  3. The beauty of hand-knit socks is that you can make them to fit your feet. I will be posting some how to’s and links for sock knitting in the next few weeks, so check back.

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Links for videos on these cast ons:

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Provisional Tubular Cast On

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The Elastic Bind-off
This is a very nice, stretchy bind-off. I will probably use it for toe-up socks and ribbed necklines.

To do the Elastic Bind-off:
Knit first two stitches, then * slip them back onto the left needle.
Then knit these two stitches together through the back loop.
Knit the next stitch and repeat from * until bind off is complete.

Here is a You-Tube video of this bind-off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da40Z_YVr0Q&feature=related

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To do the Lace Bind-off:
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Then slip the stitch now on the right needle back onto the left needle.
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Happy Knitting.

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