How I knit Socks | #1 Casting on and Toe increases

I'm not going to lie. I'm surprised that I turned out to be a sock knitter...

My first project, I bit off more than I could chew (okay I could chew it but turns out I didn't want to) when I knit a knee high silk stocking for my first sock project. There is one finished sock...talk about second sock syndrome. I don't think I'll ever spend the 100+ hours to do the other. Oh well.

After that, I decided that I should only ever knit socks 2 at a time so I went for 2 socks, toe up on a circular needle. Success! Those socks don't fit that well but I did finish them. Hooray!!

Then, my husband (then boyfriend) asked for a pair. Coming off of the sock high from my previous finished paid I said YES!! That was 2007. For Christmas of 2014, I got a bee in my bonnet to finish them and give him quite a surprise. You see, it had been a joke for sooooo many years that he was convinced that I would never finish them. But I did! Holes and all...

That project is actually what got me out of a years long knitting lull and for that I couldn't be more grateful. Life comes in seasons and I am glad that I am back in a making one.

Anyway...here is how I now knit my socks!

Casting On

This is ALWAYS tricky...but it is doable with patience and practice. It's finicky but gives a really lovely seamless toe. I use this video to help when I need a refresher. Apologies for the blurriness...it's the best I can do with my lens and filming on on own.

A word on the number of stitches to cast on - it doesn't matter and is totally your preference or at the discretion of your pattern. 10 is MY arbitrary number. The key is that you need to have the same number on both needles.

 Increasing for your Toes

Go slow with this because it's easy to drop those knit into the front and backs at the beginning and end of each row and I think it's hard to fix it when I drop them so I usually just start over. Again, I use this video when I need help!

Two (of many) toe shaping options:

 #1 Increase every row

This gives you a very short toe section, so it's good if you have short toes and if they kinda look like this shape. That being said, I don't have short toes and I kinda like the way that it fits. I tend to play around with both of these and not really care which I end up doing. I know. Helpful.

#2 Increase every other row

This gives you a longer, more elegant toe shape. Again, kinda base it off of your foot. I've made about half of my socks this way and I like the way it looks.

Another option is to kinda mix the two and do the first few rows every row and then switch to every other...the choice is yours!! It's your custom fit socks :)

So you will work on the toe increases until you have as many stitches as you need for your foot. This number is also a little arbitrary, but you will get an idea if you knit a gauge swatch. I tend to get 8 st. per inch and knit either 56 or 64 (or anywhere in between) socks for myself. The only way to know is to experiment. At least you can try these on your foot as you go and make adjustments if needed!

For my sock-along sock, I cast on 20 stitches (10 each needle as shown in the video). Then, I increased every round until I reached 64 stitches (32 on each needle) before starting my texture pattern for the sock body (more on that in the next post).

I really hope you find this helpful and that you knit socks along with me! I'm always knitting socks, and would be happy to help and to see your choices...so tag me on Instagram @antiquariabailey and use #calligraknittersockkal ;)

xoxo
Bailey