Sock Knitting

Shortening Sock Feet

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I have no idea why but lately the socks I’ve been knitting have turned out to be a bit too long to fit comfortably into my shoes – the foot is just a bit too long so it bunches at the instep or the heel pulls up instead of sitting comfortably in place. As a result I’ve stopped wearing those socks!

I haven’t changed the needles I’m using, the yarn is sock weight, my tension hasn’t changed noticeably, I’m knitting the same number of rows for the gusset, the foot and the toe. For some reason, however, the sock feet are coming out that bit longer.

The other day I decided either to give those socks away (I put three pairs in the give-away basket – they’re practically unworn) or to shorten the foot. I decided to give shortening the foot a try.

There are two possible ways of doing that – open the toe seam and unravel the toe shaping, then remove 4 rows and reknit the toe; or cut the foot, unravel a couple of rows each side then graft the two parts together using a 3-needle cast-off (also known as the Kitchener Stitch).

I decided to try cutting and grafting.

1. Pick up stitches
2. Cut thread and begin unravelling
3. Separate toe and foot
4. Pick up toe stitches
5. Begin grafting
6. One half grafted
Stages in shortening a sock foot

Let me describe how I do this:

  1. I start by picking up 32 stitches on one side of the foot and the remaining 32 stitches on the second side (being very careful to stay in the same row). I do this across the sides of the foot so I can begin and end the grafting process on the underside of the sock.
  2. Once I have all 64 stitches on two needles I cut a stitch on the instep, and start unravelling that one row one stitch at a time.
  3. I continue unravelling the selected row until I am able to separate the toe and the rest of the sock.
  4. I pick up stitches 2-3 rows from the raw knit edge on both sides of the toe. I unravel back to the needles. Before going further, I shorten the loose end, and weave it in so the first stitch remains taut and the yarn tail is out of my way.
  5. I carefully start grafting the toe to the sock using the Kitchener stitch, making sure I keep the grafting yarn loose. I work about half way across one side, adjust the tension of the grafting stitches; then carry on to the end of that pair of needles (and adjust the grafted stitch tension again).
  6. I continue on the second side to finish the graft, adjusting the stitch tension as I go along. I anchor the grafting yarn to the first stitches of the toe and the foot, trim the yarn and weave the loose end in.
  7. I have a finished, shorter, sock!
6. Grafting the second half
7. The finished graft

It takes me just under an hour to shorten one sock. Shortening the sock by unravelling the toe, taking out the 4 rows, and reknitting the toe would take at least 2 hours/sock. I’m ahead of the game by using the grafting method.

I’m now on my 4th pair.

To avoid having to do this in future, I’ve been knitting 4 fewer rows in the foot from the end of the gusset to the beginning of the toe-ing off. Although nobody has complained the gifted socks are too long, I know they must be because they’re too long for my size 8 foot! The socks I’m now knitting are 4 rows shorter and should better fit people who wear a size 7 1/2 to 8 shoe. The longer footed socks in my give away stash will be reserved for people who wear size 8 1/2-9.

Socks Recently Finished

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Mauve Socks

I bought some sock yarn from Knit Picks a few weeks back. A superwash fingering weight self-patterning yarn that has a lovely feel to it, and an interesting pattern, to boot.

I bought four skeins of yarn in a range of colours. This one is called “Cameo”. It turned out a very nice pair of socks!

Variegated Socks

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Magenta Wool Socks

Finished these socks a couple of days ago. I bought the yarn at WoolWorks in Mahone Bay – Heidi Wulfraat dyes her own sock wool. It’s a superwash, and like all variegated yarns like this it produces a kind of repetitive generalized pattern that I find rather boring to knit but I liked the colours in the skein so I bought one.

Now these socks are finished. Someone will enjoy receiving them.

New Maroon Ombre Socks

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Maroon Ombre Socks

I finished this pair of socks last evening, finally. I knit on them most evenings (since the last pair was finished) but I didn’t knit as much as usual so these socks have taken the better part of three weeks (I normally can manage a pair in two weeks.

I was drawn to the colours in the ball of yarn although I couldn’t tell that the pattern would evolve as it did with maroon strips and a repeating pattern embedded in in ombre with greys and golds.

A nice pair of socks, if I say so myself.

New Turquoise Socks

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This turned out to be a subtle, but interestingly detailed pattern when the socks were finished. The hint of white separating the blue from the turquoise created a clear colour boundary.

The yarn was one of the remaining balls from the yarn I’d bought last year from Hobbii in Denmark. I didn’t plan the layout – I just started with the interior end that presented itself (I almost always work from the inside of a ball to the outside – that way the ball doesn’t roll around). It was just luck that I was able to begin and end with the blue leaving the turquoise element in a nice location on the leg and foot! I did have to match up the yarn for the second sock – but that’s usually how it goes. Because of the way the pattern worked out, I decided to keep knitting the toe in the blue, rather than change to the solid I used for cuff and heels.

I just might put this pair in my sock drawer.

Latest Socks

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I finished these socks last evening:

Latest Socks

A bit more bland than usual – I had turned the heel on the first sock before I realized I’d forgotten to change the yarn to the solid! No point in taking out the heel so I carried on. I decided to just continue with the toe as well.

I actually prefer the contrasting heel/toe sock. I’ll try to remember on the new pair I started last evening.

This pair has been added to the stash to give away.

Close, But Not An Exact Match!

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I’ve been working on this pair of socks for a couple of weeks. Black isn’t my favourite contrast colour but the socks are certainly wearable. This was another of the balls of yarn from my Denmark order and I’ve been trying to use them up because I’m not fond of several of the colour combinations – they’re less satisfying to work on when it’s like that.

Close but not an exact match

I finished the first sock, was half way through the leg of the second when I came upon a KNOT. I hate knots – because you have to go searching for the precise matching point somewhere along in the ball (hoping the  pattern will continue in sequence and not be reversed which has occasionally happened to me). The knot was in one of those spots where it was difficult to see the colour match precisely (where the rust turns to red) – I did the best I could but I resumed knitting 4-5 rows too soon so red section on the second sock leg turned out to be 4-5 rows longer than on the first sock. I didn’t see it until I’d knit more than I was willing to unravel to fix the match so I carried on. The mismatch isn’t so noticeable at the instep but when you get to the toes the difference definitely shows.

I’m hoping the recipient, my friend John, will overlook the discrepancy and enjoy wearing them. Maybe the mismatch will make him chuckle each time he puts them on. (This is the second time recently I’ve not been able to come up with an exact match – it’s partly the shading in this particular variegated yarn that makes it difficult to spot the changes, partly the fact that I’m willing to live with the mismatching.)

Close – But Not A Match

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I sold the first pair of “blue dots” socks before Christmas. I had another ball of that yarn so I made up the second pair of socks. The colour shift in the first pair worked out pretty much on its own – I don’t recall having to unwind a lot of yarn to match the second sock.

Given where the first sock of this second pair ended I knew I had to unwind a substantial amount of yarn to set up a match – but the colour shadings in this yarn were so gradual I didn’t quite make it. That doesn’t happen to me very often (but then again, most pattern repeats are generally easier to discern).

I actually needed to unwind at least 12 rows of the pale blue on the second sock (the sock underneath) in order to have come close to a match but it wasn’t until I was closer to 25 rows into the sock that I could see the mismatch and decided just to keep knitting anyway.

Blue Ombre With Dots

These socks are destined for a friend who I’m sure will laugh each time she wears them, wiggle her toes, and carry on. Slightly mismatched socks won’t bother her.

And now onto a brighter pair where the repeat is more obvious – I’ll be able to match the second sock to the first with relative ease.

Another Pair Of Socks

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Finished this pair of socks last evening. I bought this ball of sock yarn because in the ball it looked like a reasonable set of colours but knitted up it’s pretty drab. There is a hint of “rose” in one of the grey sections so I decided to complement the yarn with a sparkly mauve.

I got well into the first leg when I decided I need to break up the drabness and added three alternating rows of the mauve wanting them to show below the pant legs (in hindsight, those rows would have been more balanced had they been closer to the cuff, however…).

One set of stripes didn’t seem enough so I added a second set near the toe. All fine.

Last night as I was approaching the toe, I remembered the second set of stripes! I had to unravel 12 rows to position the second set of mauve rows to match the rows on the first sock! I still managed to finish the sock, stripes intact.

Now on to another pair of the blue dots yarn tonight.

Light Blue Socks With Dots

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I’ve enjoyed working on the sock fingerling yarn I bought from Denmark in the spring. This is one more pair from that batch of yarns.

Light Blue Socks With Dots

Light Blue Socks With Dots

It’s a fine, well twisted, yet soft yarn that’s a pleasure to knit with. Two things are happening in this yarn – the ombre effect which you can see in the ball but is very subtle in the socks; and the darker dots which appear every six or so rows. The overall effect is pleasing.

And of course, I’m already on to my next pair!