Sock knitting - thinking of having a go?

Hello Friends,
Well, it's been over a week since I promised a number of people who asked that I'd post some pictures of my latest hand knitted pair of socks, so here we are. 

It's hard to explain self-patterning sock yarn to people who haven't seen it. It's fab stuff. You buy it looking like this.....

.......this one is Regia 4-ply, Design Line by Arne & Carlos.....a Nordic-inspired range....& it knits up into this.......

without you having to do anything other than simply ordinary knitting.  You don't even need to do 'knit a row, purl a row' as socks are knitted in the round so stocking stitch is automatically formed by knitting every row. I've knitted heaps of socks over the years, for gifts, for myself & for sale. I must have made at least 70 or 80 pairs in total, from teeny tiny ones (they make a nice gift for a new baby) up to clod-hopping massive pairs to fit the bigger hairier half of the relationship. I've knitted a few plain pairs, or plain with contrasting ribs, heels & toes, but mostly I've used these self-patterning yarns, such as Regia, Opal & King Cole 'Zig-zag' so as to obtain maximum funkiness of sock for minimum effort. This is one of the most impressive sock yarns I've ever used. It really does look as though I've been slaving away over a fairisle chart for hours, when it really is just knit stitch & the cleverly designed yarn does all the work!

Now I have to admit that my first attempt at knitting socks many years ago was not a success. In fact, it ended in an impressive tantrum on my part! I managed to knit the first sock, but was unable to repeat this for the 2nd one which went hideously wrong. After 3 attempts at frogging & re-knitting, I ripped it off the needles, jumped on it (imagine a BBC bleep-style machine in overdrive & you'll have an idea of the language....), grabbed the first one, stomped to the door, marched out & hurled them both into the bin! Didn't try knitting them again until 2 or 3 years later when my good friend Hel bought me a ball of self-patterning yarn, a set of double-pointed needles & a sock pattern! This time, success! The trick is to start with a straightforward pattern to allow you to concentrate on learning the structure of the sock. Once you've mastered this, then it's time to try some lacy, textured, frilled or more arty pairs.

 If you've never knitted socks before, you don't need much gear - just 100g of 4-ply sock yarn (usually 75% wool & 25% polyamide) a set of 4 double-pointed needles (DPNs) in size 2.5, a row-marker (a little, usually beaded charm which sits on the needle so you can see where each new round begins or you can use a safety pin slipped onto the needle in the same way) & a darning needle. These socks are seamless, so the only sewing is to darn in the tail of yarn at the beginning & end. 

While socks look complicated, it really is just a case of not over-thinking it & following a pattern. To knit a simple pair of socks like the ones pictured, you need to know how to do the following:

 Cast on & off, knit, purl, decrease, count & measure (!). Every part of sock knitting uses just these or  simple variants of these skills.

100g of 4-ply sock yarn is sufficient to knit a pair of adult-sized socks. Even if I knit the biggest size, which is 10 -12, I still have sufficient yarn left to knit a pair of baby socks too. They make nice gifts because they're warm in winter, but the high natural fibre content allows the feet to breathe so I know many of the people to whom I've gifted hand knitted socks wear them all year round.

So find a pattern, have a look at all the lovely self-patterning sock yarns available & cast on a pair of warm lovelies for winter.

I should just add that if you've got one of these........

.........then do first make sure it is otherwise engaged. 

Sorry it took me longer than promised to get these pics on. I don't know where the last couple of weeks have gone. Off to make macaroon mince pies now. 

Till next time,

C x