The Knitting Fiend

Monday, is the Official Cast On for the Knee Sock Knit A Long. That means I’d better tell people how to measure for their sock!

First, a reminder to create your sock pattern, visit the Hourglass Knee Sockulator. You will need to know some measurements to create a sock that fits you. At the sockulator, I show the locations to measure are shown on a flat sock, but some of you may want to see on an actual sock. So, here I am modeling the sock.

To fully design your sock will need to know six things about your foot and sock, so measure and write these down:

• Foot length: The sock you knit will have a “foot length” equal to the number you enter for the foot length.

  Most people like this to match their actual foot length measured from the tip of their toe to the back of their heel; see blue arrow to the right. The easiest way to measure this is to step on a piece of paper and trace an outline your foot. Then, measure the length from the toe to the back of the heel. Note: You can also get the program to guess this value by entering your shoe size using the pulldown menu.

• The foot circumference: The sock you knit will have a “foot circumference” equal to this value. That is to say, the foot portion will form tube with this circumference.

  Most people like this value to be 10% less than their actual foot circumference. So, wrap a tape measure around the thickest part of your foot and measure; see the green curved line to the right. Then, subtract 10% from that value.

  Where is the thickest part of the foot you ask? For some people, this is around the instep; for others, around the ball of the foot. To find out, measure both. Note: You can also get the program to guess the appropriate value by entering your shoe size.

• Ankle circumference: Nearly all sock patterns are designed so the ankle and foot circumference match. If you’ve never knit a sock before, enter your foot circumference for this value. However, if you know you have very narrow ankles or very wide ankles compared to your foot, measure around your ankle, then subtract 10%. Enter that.

  I should warn you: This adjustment is most valuable if you need loose ankles on your sock. It can be dangerous if you try to make the ankle too tight. If you think your ankles are teeny-tiny, don’t go overboard on this. After all, you need to get your big fat foot past that narrow ankle. If you want to tighten the ankle, make sure you knit socks with an elastic yarn so you can get your foot and heel through the ankle!



• Ribbing length: This is the length you want for the ribbing. Ribbing serves two functions: 1) it helps hold the sock up and 2) it keeps the edges from curling. To hold up heavy kneesocks, I recommend at least 2″ of ribbing on knee socks; I used 3″. However, the length is up to you; but please don’t enter a negative number or your pattern will spew nonsense. Ankle socks may use less ribbing, particularly if you knit them to fit snugly.
• Sock Length below ribbing: This is the length from the floor to the bit just under the ribbing; see the blue arrow to the right. Obviously, the full length of the sock is the sum of the ribbing length and the length below the ribbing.

  You can make the sock long or short — what ever value you wish. Just decide.

  Here’s a tip: If you are knitting socks between ankle and knee length, I suggest you put on a sock when you figure out this length. Measure up from the floor, then place a pin at the point where you want the ribbing to start. You’ll use that pin to figure out the calf measurement.

• Calf circumference: Just below the ribbing, the sock circumference will match the value you enter in this box. The value to enter depends on your leg shape and the length of sock you want to knit.

  If you are knitting short ankle socks, you probably don’t need to shape the sock above the heel turn. So, leave this equal to your ankle circumference. (Yes, in this case, the term “calf circumference” makes no sense. But I can’t change it in anticipation of your choice.) Setting the calf circumference equal to the ankle circumference will result in a pattern for a conventional unshaped sock. Most sock patterns are designed like this. This choice makes it very easy to introduce very funky difficult to knit stitch patterns. However, if you try to make the socks to long, they won’t fit large calves.

  If you are knitting knee socks and have honest to goodness calves (as most people do), you will need to knit shaped socks. So, measure around the thickest part of your calf; subtract 5% to 10% so your socks stay up!

  If you decide to knit mid-length socks, I hope you followed my suggestion and placed a pin at this point where where you want the ribbing to begin? If not, place one there now; then measure around your leg at the level of the pin. Then, subtract 5-10% from this measurement and enter that value. (But one warning: don’t enter anything smaller than the ankle measurement. First, there is no way your legs get smaller as they go up. Second, I haven’t coded for that possibility.)

Ok, so measure, and ask questions if you don’t understand something. Then, enter your values, create a pattern and cast on for the toe!

Announcing The Knee SockKnitalong!

After I finished my first knee sock, several people requested at my forum a knit a long to knit knee socks. So, we are going to have one and even though I am very bad at running knitalongs, I’ll be the leader.

As people who have used my sockulators or visited my site know, my sockulators are part pattern part software, part lesson. So, if you know how to knit, but want to knit your first sock, feel free to join. Or, if you know how to knit socks but want to start learn the “whys and wherefores” you need to know to design your own sock patterns, join. I’m generally happy to explain not just how to work a pattern, but also explaining why I made a particular design decision. Thinking knitters can listen to my reasons and decide if they apply to the design they want to knit!

Ok, so here’s how The Knee Sock Knit-a-long will operate; (I think):

1. The knitalong will be based on the Knee Sock Sock-u-lator. You can design a short sock , an ankle sock or a knee sock. It’s up to you. (How to do this will be discussed at the forum etc.)
2. I’ll start post an Announcement at The Knitting Fiend Forum.. The first announcment will include links to Knee Sock Sock-u-lator.
3. If you want to knit a long, feel free to visit the sockulator and fiddle and see if you can concoct your own pattern. The pattern has a yardage estimate at the end, so locate some yarn for your sock. If you have any questions about concocting your pattern, ask questions about how to use it so I can clarify. (I’ll be taking photos of my leg to explain how to measure for the sock.)
4. My official “cast on” will be Monday. As the leader, I need to be out ahead of people. So, you can cast on with me, or after I do.
5. Participants can join the forum. After joining, they can ask their questions, provide answers, post photos, and or links to their blog showing socks etc. at the forum. (That way, others can find your contribution to the knit-a-long.)
6. I’ll generally answer questions at the forum. However if long, long lessons involving photos are required, I’ll post that here at the blog. In that case, I’ll post a link at the forum mentioning the existence of the lesson.
7. I figure the knit a long will officially end in July. What does ending mean? It means that strictly speaking, I won’t be hustling to post long answers to questions. But by that time, if several others have knit socks, there will be a good chance they can answer!

That’s really all I can think of for the knitalong. Except…. do I need a button? I have no artistic talent. If I need a button, can someone make one?

Other than that, join, get your friend to join, and above all else: Pick out some sock yarn. (How much? Well, use the sockulator to figure that out! )

I am forever trying to find new ways to bind off loosely in rib. When I knit a turtleneck, which is, after all wide enough to stretch over your head and therefor quite a big wider than your neck, I find it’s sufficient to bind off using larger diameter needles. Unfortunately, with socks, which have leg hugging ribbing, I often find the bind off row is still too tight.

What to do? Well, I tried a tapestry needle method. It works great, but I hate having to do things with a tapestry needle. So, I did some reading and found another bind off which sounded promising. But. . . it had one slow step, which I modified. (I have no idea if my modification was an improvement because I never tried the original method! )

Anyway, here is how I bound off for my socks. It’s a two round bind off; I’m going to describe each round a a time– because otherwise it sounds to scary.

Second to last round: Change to larger needles. *YO twice, K2, YO, P2; repeat from * to the end of the round.

What? YO twice after the P2? Heck, how do you YO after a knit stitch followed by a purl? Well, I’ll assume you know how to yarn over after a knit stitch, right? If you don’t read my YO lesson., but I’ll recap in words:

• When you complete the knit stitch, the yarn is in the back. Bring the yarn forward as if you are getting ready to purl. Notice when you do this you go under the right needle tip.
• Now, bring it back taking it over the needle tip. (Taking the yarn from front to back over the tip is what defines a forward — normal– yarnover.
• The yarn is now in back, so knit the next stitch.

Ok, so what if the next stitch is a purl?

• The yarn is now in back; to purl you need it in front. So, bring the yarn forward, passing under the needle. (You don’t want to undo the yarn over!)

This is a single yarnover because the yarn passed over the needle once.

Notice that this YO involves a fairly long length of yarn; the yarn passes over the right needle tip once and under twice. (Sorry, no photo. I goofed!)

Ok, so now you know how to work the “k2, yo, p2″ bit. But, the first step was “YO twice”! (I bet some of you wonder why do it twice. Let me tell you how first, then I’ll explain why.)

Ok, to YO once after a purl followed by a knit, you:

• Notice the yarn is in front.; bring the yarn back taking it over the right needle tip. (Remember, I said taking the yarn from front to back over the needle tip is what defines a forward — normal– yarnover. That means you’ve finished the YO! )
• The yarn is now in back, where you need it to knit, so if you were only working 1 YO, you could just insert your tip into the next stitch knit a stitch.

“Whoah Nelly”, you say! The single YO after a purl followed by a knit is really short! The yarn passes over the right needle tip once and never passes under.

Yep! But for this bind off we want the two YO type bits to create roughly the same length of yarn. That’s why I have you YO twice. So, to do the second YO, bring the yarn forward passing under the right needle tip, then take it to the back passing over the tip.

Notice the yarn will pass over the tip twice, under the tip once. Just the right length! Now insert the needle tip to knit the next stitch and wrap the yarn. (See left.)

Ok, so work the *YO twice, k2, yo, p2* bit all the way around. You will now have the k2 and p2 groups separated by the single and double yarnovers as shown below.

Now you will actually bind off. Working this bind off is fairly similar to working a regular bind off for k2-p2 rib. However, you need to do something with the yos. The text description is horrifying, so I’m going to describe the final round in pictures.

When you begin the round, you will see a double yarn over — the kind created after working a purl. See left.

Drop first YO off needle To do this, I am inserted the right needle tip into the yo as shown above left. After inserting, I just drug it off the left tip. One YO remained. Slip next yo inserting tip through back loop — see above center. Notice I brought the right needle tip to the left of the yo and inserted. This twists the yarn over and makes it easier to do later steps.

Now, we are going to do the repetitions part:

1. * k1, pass YO over the stitch you just knit — passing the YO over the stitch is illustrated above right. I’ve inserted the left tip into the the second stitch from the edge of the right tip; this stitch happens to be yellow. I’ll lift the yellow stitch over the blue stitch to its left and drop it off the right needle This binds off the yellow stitch, which in this case, is the YO I had just slipped.
2. k1, pass k1 over the stitch you just knit, — this binds off a knit stitch,
3. slip yo inserting tip through back loop, pass previous k1 over the yo, — this binds off another knit stitch,
4. p1, pass yo over p1, — this binds off a YO,
5. p1, pass p1 over p1, — this binds off a purl,
6. Drop first YO off needle, slip next yo inserting tip through back loop, pass p1 over YO — this binds off another purl.
7. repeat from *

When only one stitch remains, break yarn and draw through loop.

Ok, in one sentence:
Final round: Drop first YO off needle, slip next yo inserting tip through back loop now:
* k1, pass yo over the stitch you just knit, k1, pass k1 over the stitch you just knit, slip yo inserting tip through back loop, pass previous k1 over the yo, p1, pass yo over p1, p1, pass p1 over p1, drop first yo off needle, slip next yo inserting tip through back loop, pass p1 over yo; repeat from *,

Aren’t you glad I didn’t write that all at the beginning? It’s much easier to do than to read!

The bind off is stretchy, it looks decent. I’m going to see if I can improve on it, but it’s wearable, and it’s done!