Making Socks

When you think about knitting, what do you think of? Sweaters? Shawls? I think about socks.

Back when I was in middle school, I was super into the American Girls. One of them was knitting socks with the girls in her class, and they got very frustrated when they had to add another needle for the heel. I didn’t know anything about sock knitting at the time – in fact, I hadn’t learned to crochet yet, either – so I just accepted what the book said.

Now, however, I wonder why she had to add another needle? I start with a total of four needles and keep with that for the whole sock. Some people use five needles, but as the Double Pointed Needles (DPNs) I purchased only came with four in a pack, I use four. Back in the time when this American Girl lived (So sorry, I can’t remember any of their names now, so if you know who I’m talking about could you please leave a comment down below?) circular needles didn’t exist yet, but it’s pretty cool how sock knitting has improved.

If you’re interested in learning how to knit socks, I have some pretty neat resources you can use!

First, you need to choose a pattern. I have two videos I recommend for beginners. The first one I recommend for anyone who wants to learn how to make socks. MarlyBird had a Knit Along (KAL) in 2018 where she went into a lot of detail about sock construction as a recipe. She also explained how to use DPNs most effectively, so even if you aren’t going to use her pattern specifically, I highly recommend giving these six videos a watch. I have the first video in the series here:

But, one sock at a time is a fairly slow method of making simple socks. Personally, I like using the Magic Loop method with my circular needles because I can get a pair of socks that are identically sized. Happee Knits has a wonderful video for this technique where she explains everything. The end of her video cuts off on the bind off, so if you look up a different video on Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off you’ll be golden. But, Happee Knits shows you how to measure your partially-knit sock on your foot so that you can be sure it will fit properly. Here is the video:

But, what about getting that perfect fit? For example, I made the Marly Bird socks for my husband, and the first pair was HUGE around his foot – yes, the men’s socks are enormous and unless the man in your life has Flintstone feet, you’ll probably want to make the woman’s size for them – but so was the second pair. Then I measured his foot, and I realized that his ankle circumference was a full inch larger than the ball of his foot. So then I made him the Happee Knits socks with alterations to increase size in his heel for his ankle, and that pair fit perfectly! I was able to do this because Roxanne Richardson put out two videos on how to measure a foot for sock knitting and how to alter a pattern for the perfect fit. I’ve linked both of those videos below:

So… now that you have a pattern (and if you don’t like these you can always find a suitable pattern on Ravelry) you’ll need to choose a yarn. I’ve actually made a video for this! There are links to everything I mention in the description box over on YouTube, so if you want to look at something specific you can find the video here. And I’ve added it here:

I hope this helps you. Sock knitting is a very fun and wearable art form, and I really enjoy it! However, because of this there isn’t just one way to do it, and there are a lot of different opinions and options involved. If you want some additional support, feel free to ask me any questions in the comments, or you can join the Addicted to Sock Knitting group of Facebook! I don’t run that group, but I am part of it!

Happy Crafting!