Since writing the first book, I’ve been asked a few questions consistently enough that I think I should include the answers to them here. Most of the questions I hear, when not relating to specific patterns in 2-at-a-Time Socks, are about needles, yarns, yarn substitutions, and sizing. I’ve also included a bit here about casting on and binding off in ways that are appropriate for toe-up sock knitting. I think it’s important for knitters to experiment with different techniques and determine what works for their individual knitting styles. And a word about fit: Fitting toe-up socks is not the same as fitting a top-down sock. Some math is required, but not anything too horrible. Truly, if I can do it, you can too!
Knitting cannot happen without needles. As time has passed, I’ve been introduced to more and more choices in knitting needles. Metal or wood, firm or flexible cables — ultimately the choice is your own. Here I present my favorites and the reasons why they’ve won me over.
Addi. As a rule, those of us who love Addi Turbo nickel-plated brass needles really, really love them. They take a beating and remain attached to their cable. The join is good and stable and does not catch the yarn. It is likely that you could run them over and they’d be fine, unless you kinked the older kind of cable — then you had a problem. Not any more! Addi has replaced its old steel wire cable with new flexible plastic cables. My new favorites are Addi Natura needles, made of bamboo, which combine the comforting nature of wood with a flexible cable and the same high-quality components as the Turbos. The smallest size currently available is a US size 2, but I live in hope. My next favorites are my beloved slick Addi Turbos, available in sizes beginning with US 000. And after these come the Addi clear-coated brass lace needles (also starting in a size US 000), which have a sharp point that is perfect for lacework on shawls (or socks). With three types of circular needles to choose from, Addi offers options for every project. I am very hopeful that Addi’s new Clicks will expand to include interchangeable tips of all three types, and smaller sizes. Addi needles are still, in my opinion, the best way to go.
Inox. I discovered these aluminum needles with their flexible black cable sometime between finishing up the first book and its actual release date. By the time the book came out, I was using the Inox fixed circular needles more and more. They are less expensive than Addis, to be sure, which is important for many of us. After all, inexpensive, goodquality tools mean more money to spend on yarn! The needle itself holds onto the yarn a bit more than Addi Turbos do, so if you have issues with stitches that run away, these are a great alternative.
Lantern Moon. I love Lantern Moon’s straight needles. So does my daughter’s big, yellow cat, which chews on them at a disproportionate rate compared to other wooden needles in the house. The cat knows quality when he tastes it. (“Way to be, Mel,” the knitter said, sighing.) The company’s commitment to traditional crafts, fair trade, and environmental sustainability only adds to the value of the needles, in my opinion. I bought some of their Destiny circulars to try for a sweater project, and ended up using them for some test socks for this book. The needles themselves are wonderful: smooth as butter. The join is not quite as smooth as an Addi join, and the cable is not as flexible as the Addi or Knit Picks cable. Although I have not experienced this, I heard that at one time there had been a problem with the wooden needle coming out of the metal base, but Lantern Moon has corrected this. If you love the feel of wooden needles in your hand (is there someone who doesn’t?) these needles are an excellent choice. And I think every knitter should own at least one pair of straight needles, which should be kept away from family pets. As of this writing, their circulars are available in sizes from US 3 to 17, and are a wonderful thing to have around for knitting thick, warm, worsted or DK-weight socks!
Knit Picks Harmony. A few years ago, Knit Picks introduced nickel-plated Options needles. I love the cable, but I “push” my needle when moving stitches around, so the supersharp point of the metal needles wasn’t working for me. Then one day I opened a catalog and it was as if the company had read my mind. They had kept the flexible purple cable from the original nickel-plated circulars, but brought in a more organic feeling to the needles, something less cold and certainly less pointy. Enter Options Harmony wood fixed circulars. Great name, too, for the harmonious blend of features in these needles. In the 40-inch length, they’re available from 2.0 mm to 3.0 mm in 0.25 mm increments, which give those of us who knit with little needles and skinny yarn a wider range of options when trying to establish the correct gauge for a project. I ordered a bunch of fixed circulars and sat down to swatch. The cable is lightweight and very difficult to kink. It doesn’t want to have its own way constantly, and is willing to allow the knitter to work unhindered by staying mostly out of the way. The join is smooth. I have not yet broken a needle (although I know folks who have), but in the smaller sizes, I would think that it would be only a matter of time before a needle snapped. Fortunately, Knit Picks is very responsive in replacing broken needles quickly.
Kollage Yarns Square Circulars. New to my sphere are these unique needles from Kollage Yarns. Yes, you read that right, it says “square circulars”! The needles themselves are square rather than round. And here’s the best part for many of you: The cable goes right past flexible all the way to floppy. I found when working with these needles that their square shape was very comfortable for my fingers, and the flexible cable made it much less likely that ladders would form on my socks. There was a bit of fiddling to get stitches on and off of the cable, though: Because the cable is so relaxed, the stitches are perfectly happy to remain there. A little bit of learning on my part had them coming on and off of the needles more easily. This needle would be a really good choice for anyone who has consistent issues with laddering, as long as that knitter is aware that she needs to allow time for learning how to manage stitches around the join where needle and cable meet.
In my first book, 2-at-a-Time Socks, all of the featured yarns were machine washable, and most were machine dryable as well. That’s changed a bit this time. There are just so many options available to knitters of socks. Wool, silk, mohair, Tencel, cotton, SeaCell — the list seems endless. I even designed a pair of cashmere socks for Judith Durant’s Luxury One-Skein Wonders. Yes, cashmere, and yes, for socks. Feet deserve yarn-love, too!
Although most of the yarns featured in this book are still machine washable, some are not. The reason? It’s pretty simple: I ran an uncontrolled and tremendously unscientific experiment. I knitted a pair of socks and said to my husband, “These don’t go in the washer.” I should point out here that he does the laundry in our home, and that he has a soft spot for his hand-knit socks. I don’t know how this division of labor happened really, except that when we met, I was a full-time student and single mother and he was a single dad with a full-time job. When we combined households and began splitting up chores he jumped on laundry as quickly as I jumped on dishes and cooking. I enjoy doing dishes, and I love to cook. Laundry is a multistep process: place in washer, remove, hang to dry, remove from line, fold, put away. There are a lot of steps, and I think it offends my attention-deficit tendencies. I get lost somewhere between “place in washer” and “put away,” and then we’re all searching for underwear on a Monday morning, only to discover that they’re still in the washer, where they’ve been since Saturday morning.
But I digress. Where was I? Yes. He took laundry. I reasoned that if he could manage to keep a pair of hand-wash socks intact for a year, then anyone could do it. Not that he’s in any way laundry challenged, but keeping track of one pair of socks for a whole year is a lot to ask of a busy man with a crazy wife. Well, he did it. The socks have not once been accidentally stuck in a pant leg, nor have they sneaked into the washer when his back was turned. And yes, he wears them. The truth is that many of these yarns are too irresistible not to knit and wear. They beg for knitting, and who am I to stand in their way? All they ask is a tiny bit of extra care, and I think we can give them that. But if the thought of a hand-wash-only sock still makes your head hurt, then by all means use a superwash yarn. There are certainly enough of them to fit your needs.
This brings us to yarn substitution — how, when, and why? Let’s start with when and why. One great “why” is stated above. Perhaps you, like many, don’t like the idea of a hand-wash yarn. Maybe the yarn in question isn’t available at your localyarn shop, or maybe you are allergic to the fiber. Possibly the yarn I used in the pattern doesn’t come in your preferred color, or maybe you just plain old don’t like that yarn and can’t figure out why I’d be so crazy as to use it! Some of my sample knitters have had this very reaction. (Don’t worry — the objectionable yarns are not in the book!) Regardless of your reason, be it one of those given above or another all your own, give yourself permission to substitute yarn. Don’t let an adherence to the yarn featured in any pattern anywhere prevent you from knitting a particular item, be it one of my socks or an adorable sweater in a magazine.
All joking aside, a swatch truly is an essential piece of information for any knitter. Here are my rules for a perfect gauge swatch:
Now I know that very few of us have the patience to knit a swatch like that for a sock. But just keep in mind that gauge is critical in fitting a garment, even a sock. If you don’t check gauge, and the sock doesn’t fit anyone but the draft horse down the road, well, next time you’ll swatch!
Get the gauge. But how do you substitute? How do you know what’s safest and best? The first issue you would need to confront, and the most vital, is that of gauge. Let’s say the recommended or featured yarn was knitted at a gauge of 8 stitches per inch. In order to substitute a different yarn you must be certain that it will knit at 8 stitches to the inch to make a fabric that is comfortable and pleasing to the eye. You are not, I hope, going to try to knit a pair of socks the book has shown in the lightweight Socks That Rock yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts with Cascade 220, which is a worsted-weight yarn. Reading the ball band will give you a good idea of gauge. As a general rule of thumb, most yarns within a given weight range should be roughly interchangeable: fingering for fingering, worsted for worsted, and so on. However, as yarns can vary in gauge, it’s very important that you swatch to be sure. You need to knit a swatch anyway, right? Of course you do!
Find the fiber. The next issue to consider in substituting yarn is the fiber content and type of the original yarn. If the pattern was knitted in a textured, tweedy yarn, the appearance will not be the same if you substitute a smooth, shiny yarn. If the pattern used a fluffy mohair yarn, then it won’t look at all similar if you substitute a glossy cotton yarn, and so on. You don’t need to run out and find a yarn that looks exactly the same; you merely need to be aware that changing the type of yarn changes the appearance of the sock. You as the knitter then get to take responsibility for that choice, which puts you in the driver’s seat! Maybe you think my choice is a bad one and you’d like to see a particular pattern knitted in something completely different. More power to you! Go for it! In fact, it makes me so happy to see people take my ideas and run with them. Just recently I saw a woman wearing a sweater I designed, but she’d added a twist. She had taken the cable pattern used on the body and centered it on the sleeves in a most intriguing manner. I loved it. “Why,” I thought, “didn’t I think of that?” So take my ideas and run with them, please. Change it up at your discretion!
Select the reason. Your yarn choice may be dictated by a wearer’s desires, by seasonality, or by intended use. For example, I love wool socks pretty much all year long. Not everyone does. I might knit cotton or cottonblend socks for summer if I am knitting for a friend or family member. Maybe I am considering a pair of fancy socks for formal occasions. In that case I might look for something that has some shiny bits in it (Kraemer Sterling, perhaps?) or something that has a dressy hand and appearance, like Valley Yarns Colrain Lace or Great Adirondack Silky Sock. Hiking socks for me? Well, rugged, toothy wool, of course. On the other hand, if I am knitting hiking socks for someone who cannot abide rugged wool yarn, I might make their hiking socks in softer, machine-washable, worsted-weight wool and use a reinforcing yarn for heels and toes, or possibly for the whole foot. Which brings us to the topic of reinforcing threads.
Reinforcing thread (or reinforcing yarn) is sometimes used in the heels and toes of socks to increase the longevity and durability of the finished product. Simply hold the reinforcing thread together with your working yarn and knit with the two held together.
Once you’ve chosen a yarn, it’s time to consider whether to use a reinforcing thread for heels and toes. Some of this decision making should involve the personal traits of the wearer. If you know that the intended wearer’s commercial socks wear through at the toe and heel with some rapidity, then I’d add a little something to protect your time and yarn investment. Generally most yarn intended for sock knitting contains some degree of nylon or bamboo to provide strength and durability, and reinforcing threads for average wearers of these yarns are not usually needed. Yarns that require hand washing are more likely to benefit from a reinforcing thread.
As a general rule of thumb, the softer and finer the fiber, the more likely a reinforcing thread is of benefit. Examples include alpaca, cashmere, and merino. When in doubt, err on the side of caution. The extra investment is worth the peace of mind. I like to limit the use of reinforcing thread to toes and heels, although some people find great benefit from using it for the entire foot. If no sock-specific reinforcing threads are available near you, it’s possible to use nylon thread such as YLI Corporation’s Woolly Nylon, which is available in 55 colors including a good range of neutrals and some variegated shades. This is a thread used in sergers (also known as overlock sewing machines), and it comes on a large but relatively inexpensive cone of 1,000 yards. A few cones in basic colors will likely last a very long time, and if you’ve got a serger so much the better.
There are a few different ways that you can cast on and bind off when knitting toe-up socks.
My favorite cast on for toe-up socks (and the only one we’re featuring in this book) is Judy’s Magic Cast On, created by Judy Becker and used here with her gracious permission. I initially used the figure-eight (or Turkish) cast on, but I never fell fully in love. I discovered Judy’s by chance, and it has become my hard-and-fast favorite for toe-up socks, as well as for top-down mittens. Having used various other methods over the years, I can tell you that this takes the proverbial cake. With a bit of practice, it is easily mastered, and well worth the effort! See the full directions for Judy’s Magic Cast On.
The basic bind off perfectly meets the needs of many knitters, but for others, the basic bind off may prove to be too tight. Two alternative bind offs are presented in the appendix: the sewn bind off and the tubular bind off. Both are actually “sewn” bind offs, because they utilize a seaming needle threaded with a long yarn tail.
Another alternative for creating a looser bind off is to increase one stitch between each stitch on the last round of your sock, and then bind off. This will double the number of stitches and create a more comfortable sock. It can make a bit of a ripple, some might even say ruffle. Even though this ripple is not apparent when the sock is on, it may not be right for every application. It also may be possible to bind off using a larger needle, or to simply remember to keep your stitches very loose when binding off. You’ll want to experiment to determine which is best for your knitting style. You can make swatches and practice binding off. The swatches do not need to be very large, just enough to bind off stitches and check for flexibility in the bound-off edge of the piece. You could also consider practicing these bind offs on larger shapes. Practice does not have to produce things you cannot use. With a little ingenuity your practice pieces can become holiday ornaments, tea cozies, pillow covers, or cell-phone cases!
As with 2-at-a-Time Socks, this technique can be easily adapted to nearly any sock pattern. It’s easiest if the pattern you’re adapting has an even number of stitches. This way you can simply “split” the sock in half the same way the patterns in this book are designed. Half of the stitches will be side 1, or the instep side. The other half will be side 2, or the sole (and eventually heel) stitches.
One of the most-asked questions I receive is about changing a sock pattern to fit a foot when the eventual wearer has a foot that is smaller or larger than that stated in the pattern. We as knitters can find ways to make size adjustments in our patterns. We can change gauge, add or subtract pattern repeats, or draft a pattern entirely of our own design. Changing gauge is probably the simplest way to adjust a size. Let’s say you want to knit a particular pattern for your sister who has a very narrow foot. The finished circumference of the sock as written is 8 inches. But her skinny little foot only measures 7 inches around. If you used a smaller needle and got, for example, 8 stitches to the inch rather than the stated gauge of 7 stitches to the inch, you could follow the directions as written and your finished sock would measure close to 7 inches around.
This book gives a finished foot circumference for every sock pattern in both sizes. When deciding which size to knit, consider that the finished sock should be smaller in circumference than the foot of the wearer. Most of the stitch patterns in this book create a sock with a fair amount of stretch.
All of the patterns in this book require you to know the desired foot length. This can be based on shoe-size conversion charts, or it can be based on the actual measurement of a foot from heel to toe. The best way to measure is the old-fashioned way. Stand, or have your intended victim — oops, recipient — stand on a piece of white paper and draw around the foot with a pencil.
After you have the foot measurement, you need to perform a basic mathematical calculation using a simple formula that determines how long your gusset and heel turn will be, based on your row gauge (see Toe-Up Math). Use these numbers to calculate how long you knit the foot of your sock before beginning gusset increases.
Now you’re armed with knowledge and ready to enter the world of knitting socks two at a time on one long circular needle from your toes on up. Time to cast on and get to work!
When I size socks for a child by tracing his or her foot, I like to date the outline. As the child grows, I can place his or her foot back on the same paper, matching heel to heel, and draw a new “growth ring,” adding a date each time. This piece of paper is exceptionally sniffle-worthy for grandmothers, mothers, and high-quality aunts. You can sit and remember the tiny feet that now fill the page from end to end. If needed, a second sheet of paper can be taped onto the end of the first, extending the space available. These pages can be kept in a loose-leaf binder or a simple paper folder along with other pertinent knitterly info: how long were Johnny’s arms, what was his girth, how long was his back neck measurement on the same date, and so on. (See, I do knit more than socks!) Add on some information about favorite colors and styles, and you’re set for more than a year’s worth of knitted gifts in the case of a child (or longer for an adult).
