How I Taught Myself Magic Loop Sock Knitting

© Copyright 2011 Patrice Walker All rights reserved

I’ve Never Been a Fan of Double-Pointed Needles

Even though I am a dyed-in-the-wool crocheter, I have always wanted to learn how to knit socks. In fact, I started out as a knitter many (many!) years ago when my mother taught me and two of my friends how to knit when we were around 11 years old. So I’ve always known how to knit, and really got into it in my teens and twenties. And even when I switched to crochet in my thirties, I still knit small projects from time to time.

The biggest obstacle that has kept me from learning how to knit socks is the thought of using double-pointed needles. The one time I knit with them was when I was making the Barbara Walker Learn-to-Knit afghan and was required to knit one of the 63 squares using double points. I found knitting with them to be extremely awkward and cumbersome, and as a result, I put off learning how to knit socks, until …

I was absolutely intrigued by the idea of knitting socks on circular needles. I started using them exclusively several years ago for all of my knitting projects because you never have to worry about misplacing a needle; both needles are attached to each other by a thin cable. Tip to tip, the needles range from a short nine inches to as long as 60 inches. So I couldn’t wait to learn how to knit socks with them.

Knitting socks on circular needles involves casting on the number of stitches required to make the sock and then using the cable to divide the stitches in half, with one half of the stitches on one needle and the other half on the other needle. The cable is pulled between these two halves.

Then, you simply pull one needle so that these stitches rest on the cable, enabling you to knit the stitches on the other needle. Once these stitches have been knitted, you pull the opposite needle long so that those stitches rest on the cable and knit the other half of the stitches. You’ll understand a little better how this works when you watch the video below.

With all of the information that’s available on the Internet today, I knew I could find some decent instructions and videos that I could use to teach myself the magic loop sock knitting, and do it from the comfort of my home. Even though you can knit two socks at a time using this method, I decided to learn how to knit one sock at a time since I had never knitted a sock before, and I didn’t want learning to get overly complicated.

• Pat Springer has a series of videos that demonstrates how to knit one sock at a time on nine-inch cable needles. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? But she makes it look easy! I watched this video several times, primarily to get a feel for what is involved in knitting socks in general, and secondly, to find out how to knit them on circulars.
• Cat Bordhi has an interesting set of videos that demonstrates how to knit one sock at a time, using two circular needles. She doesn’t knit an entire sock like Pat Springer does, but simply shows you how to cast on and knit the first round.

I finally settled on a series of seven extremely well-produced videos created by Staci, a Level 1, TKGA-Certified Master Knitter, that takes you from the initial cast-on to weaving in ends once the sock is finished.

These videos require that you purchase her pattern because she leaves some stuff out, but my goal in this project was to teach myself how to knit socks without spending ANY money, and I was convinced that all the information I needed could be found online. That doesn't mean you shouldn't purchase the pattern if you think it will help you.

So I knew I had to find some written instructions, not necessarily a pattern per se, but what my expert knitter friend, Kim calls a “recipe,” which describes the essential elements involved in knitting socks in general. I found an excellent recipe called Socks 101 created by Canadian knitter, Kate Atherly, which can be found at Knitty.com. It can be used to knit a wide variety of socks.

From this recipe, I learned that knitting a sock involves 12 basic steps:

1. Measure the circumference of your ankle. This measurement, along with your gauge, determines how many stitches you cast on.
2. Knit a swatch to determine your gauge, i.e., rows and stitches per inch.
3. Cast on the appropriate number of stitches.
4. Knit the cuff and the leg in the round (demonstrated in the video).
5. Divide the stitches in half and knit the heel flap on one half of the stitches.
6. Turn the heel (involves knitting “short rows").
7. Shape the “gusset” by picking up stitches along one side of the feel flap, knitting across the instep, and picking up stitches on the other side of the heel flap.
8. Decrease the gusset.
9. Knit the foot (the number of inches from your heel to the first knuckle of your longest toe).
10. Decrease for the toe.
11. Use a three-needle bind off or the Kitchener stitch to close the toe.
12. Weave in ends.

And that’s all there is to it! Pretty simple, right? I devised a “cheat sheet” or "job aid," as I would have called it in my tech writing days, so that I could keep track of what I was doing.

Sorry that the photo quality is so poor; I used a pencil because I knew I’d be erasing a lot. But I hope it gives you a bit of an idea of how I kept track of what I was doing. This helped me immensely because there were several times when I had to make sure I was knitting the correct number of rows (see step 6, for example).

Everything you ever wanted to know about knitting socks, including knitting on double-pointed needles, one circular needle, and two circular needles; knitting socks from the top down, the toe up, and flat; how to create various heels and toes, and much, much more …

I decided that it would be a lot easier to knit my first pair of socks, using a yarn that was heavier than typical sock-knitting yarn which tends to be very fine. So I pulled out some trusty Red Heart worsted weight acrylic yarn and a pair of 60-inch, size 7 circular needles, and started knitting.

I learned several things as a result of knitting my first pair of socks:

1. 60-inch cable needles are WAY too long to use to knit one sock at a time. The cable kept getting in the way, which made knitting a bit frustrating. It was hard enough learning everything involved in knitting a sock; having to fight the cable was something I could have done without. I switched to 32-inch needles for the second pair of socks, but these were too short. I think 40-inch needles would be perfect, but I didn’t have any in size 7.
2. I had to make sure that I pulled the first stitch knitted on the second needle tight; otherwise the cable separating the halves can create a “ladder effect” that doesn’t look nice. You can seea bit of this ladder effect in green sock on the left.
3. Despite the fact that it is machine washable, acrylic yarn is really not the best yarn to use for socks because it doesn’t breathe. I wear these socks around the house, but my feet get hot fast in the summer heat, and I usually end up taking them off. I think they’ll be okay in cold weather (for Hawaii, it's upper 70s during the day low 60s at night :-)), but I’ll have to wait to see if this is true.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t have to undo countless rounds because of all the mistakes I made. My biggest challenge was remembering to turn the heel before I started picking up stitches to reconnect the sides of the heel flap to the instep. That’s why I wanted to use a cheap yarn from my stash; I knew I’d probably be making a lot of mistakes and “frogging” my work, and didn’t want to mess up a nicer yarn.

I have some old wool yarn in my stash that a good friend gave me that I used for my second pair of socks. I had to wash the yarn first, however, because it was a bit moldy, but once it was clean and dry, it made for some nice knitting.

I created another cheat sheet for these socks, which were a lot easier to knit than the first pair (thank goodness!). They also fit a bit better than the first pair. The green socks are too snug at the top of my toes, so I knit the foot of the fuscia socks a few rows longer. And they feel a lot better than the acrylic socks, which are kind of rough against my skin.

Well, there you have it. I think I’ve given you enough information and sources to enable you to knit socks on circular knitting needles, one sock at a time. This magic loop sock knitting experience has convinced me that, thanks to the Internet, I can teach myself just about anything.

Next up - knitting two socks at a same time on circular needles.