Beginner Socks on 2 Circular Needles

Socks make a great "last minute" gift - and knowing how to make them is a great skill to have.

Supplies: worsted weight yarn (wool is my jam but not necessary) at least 220 yds/200 m; 2 circular needles the same needle size but different colors size 6 - 4.0mm; waste yarn about 2ft in a contrasting color; stitch marker; yarn needle; flexible tape measure. If you are making a single color sock this is all the yarn you will need but if you would like to have the toe/heel/top of the sock different colors you will need to have a small amount of yarn for those. Make sure it is either the same yarn in different colors or same yarn weight – in this case worsted. I wear a size 9 US woman’s shoe so my pattern follows this metric but these are customizable to any foot. I will explain how to customize further on. My gauge is 5 stitches & 6 rows to the inch. 

Step 1) Toe

1. Start with a figure 8 cast on. This seems tricky but it works amazingly well. Start with the ends of two circular needles next to each other held together in one hand. Slot the end of your yarn with about 3 inches of end hanging down between the two ends. You want to tightly hold the needles so the yarn is gripped between them. Wrap in a figure 8 pattern around each needle so that you have 12 wraps on each needle (24 stitches total with both needles). Try to keep everything as tight as possible at this stage (though you can tighten the stitches later after you have a few rows knit).

2. The needle that the yarn ends up behind is going to be your first needle to knit on. The needle that is going to be second needs to get out of the way so gently slide those 12 stitches to the cable part of the needle keeping in mind that the loose end is going to want to escape since there is no knot holding anything in place. I grab that end with my pinky to hold it – you could also clip it with a small binder clip to keep it in check. Knit through the back loop of these 12 stitches since they are essentially backwards on your needle. The important part to remember is that you NEVER knit with separate needles. This is why it helps to have two differently colored circulars so that you can instantly tell you have the wrong needle when they are just hanging there. ALWAYS knit from the same colored needle. Now that you have knit one needle slide your other needle to where your yarn left off and knit through those 12 stitches. From now on think of these as the top and bottom of your sock tube (Needle 1 and Needle 2).

3. Now we will begin increasing our sock. On needle 1 (N1) knit 1 stitch, knit into the front and back of the next stitch, knit to 2 stitches remaining on this needle, knit into the front and back of the 2nd to the last stitch, knit the last stitch. You have increased 2 stitches on this half of the sock. Repeat with N2. You have increased from 24 to 28 stitches total – count and make sure you have 14 stitches on each half. Knit one round (both needles) and increase again the same way. You will alternate between an increase round and a plain round. Check to make sure you have the same number of stitches on each needle. Do this until you have 44 stitches total. At this point you have built up the toe part of the sock. You can put a removeable marker on a stitch that will stay there. I have used a piece of yarn that will just mark the row. This is not necessary but help with knowing how many rows to count going forward. If you are making a different color toe to the body of the sock here is where you would change the color so a marker is unnecessary.

Step 2) The foot

1. Knit on each needle around and around. For my size 9 foot this means 40 rows. You start counting rows when you stopped increasing for the toe. You can also try the sock on (if it’s for you) and it should be just before your heel starts.

Step 3) Afterthought heel

1. Take the waste yarn and after knitting with N2 go back to the start of that row by sliding the stitches back to the other end of the same needle and knit with the waste yarn (it’s important that this is a different color yarn so it’s easy to see where it is). Now knit N1 just like normal. Knit N2 with the regular yarn over the contrasting/waste yarn you knit. You will see this weird stripe in your sock. Don’t worry – that is just a place holder until we come back to knit the heel.

Step 4) Ankle

1. Here is where you can make the sock as tall as you would like. If you have more than 220yds of yarn to play with you can go nuts - though I’m not going to explain calf shaping here - so keep that in mind. A more crew length sock will be about 45 rows from where you have your waste yarn placed - start to work a rib pattern for a few rounds. K1P1 works well. You really can start your rib stitch wherever you would like. In this case I knit 15 rows and then started the k1p1 rib. When you bind off your stitches you want to be very loose – use a needle at least 2 sizes larger in this case an 8 – 5mm. There are many other ways to get a loose stretchy bind off –google them if you like. Cut the yarn with a small tail after binding off.

Step 5: The Heel

1. Now that you have your happy little tube you need to add the heel so it will fit to your foot. Take one of your needles and fish it into the row of stitches ABOVE your waste yarn. You want to make sure that you grab each stitch at the same angle and only pick up one side of the stitch. Knit stitches are like little letter V's and you want to only grab one side of the "V". You should have 22 stitches that you put onto waste yarn so you need to pick up 22 stitches on N1. Do the same thing on the row BELOW your waste yarn. You will have a bit of a yarn sandwich here. N1 above with 22 stitches – the waste yarn in a different color – and then N2 with 22 stitches.

2. Remove the waste yarn. You can pull it out stitch by stitch or cut it – being very careful not to cut your working stitches. You should now have a hole with stitches on both needles.

3. Pick up an extra stitch on each end of your needles. This helps to keep the heel from having any holes where we are joining yarn. So you would have 24 stitches on each needle.

4. Join your yarn – the same as what you cut when you bound off at the ankle – or a new color. You do you.Pay attention to the way the stitches sit on your needles. My N1 went the “right” way but N2 were “backwards” so I had to knit through the back loops to get them to sit properly and look right. If you don’t do this you will end up with a weird ridge. It may not bother you but it bugged me so I made sure to twist the stitches so it looked right. Knit around N1 with the yarn you choose for the heel – same for N2. 

5. Now we are going to work the heel in the reverse of how we worked the toe. Instead of increasing on the 2nd stitch from the beginning and end of each needle we are going to decrease there instead. On N1 knit 1 and knit through the back loops of stitch 2 and 3 joining them into one stitch. Knit to 3 stitches before the end of this needle and knit 3 and 2 together into one stitch and then knit the final stitch normally. (I did 2 different kinds of decrease for a reason. Knit 2 through the back loop bends the stitches to the left and knit 2 together bends them to the right. The effect is subtle but it looks nicer when they are all in a line.)Do the same on N2. Next round - Knit N1 and N2 normally. Repeat this pattern – decrease row – normal row – until you have 12 stitches left on each needle.

6. Now we need to bind off the heel. I use the kitchener stitch because it’s neat and does the job better than any other method I’ve found. It takes some practice to get it right but once you master it – you’re golden. Start with the yarn coming from the back and scoot all of the stitches to the end with both tips together (purl stitches inside facing each other) on the right. Cut your working yarn with a tail about a foot or so – basically take 3 times your stitches remaining in length. Thread this onto a yarn needle. With your needle go through the first stitch in front like you are going to purl. Leave it on the front needle (N1). With the yarn needle go through the first stitch on the back (N2) like you are going to knit. Leave it on N2. Tighten up the yarn but not too snug. This was the set up. Now you can get into a rhythm. From the front go into the first stitch like you are going to knit and remove it from N1. Go through the second stitch on N1 like you are going to purl but leave it there. On N2 go into the first stitch like you are going to purl and remove it from N2. Go through the next stitch on N2 like you are going to knit but leave it there. Repeat. The sequence is like this: N1 K remove, p leave, N2 p remove, k leave. Basically you simulate knitting and purling into every stitch with this yarn needle. Once you get to the last two stitches – one on each needle –you should have done the purl and knit one time before and so you can just knit and purl them off each needle.  If this sounds confusing there are some great youtubes showing exactly how to do it.

Steps: Finishing. 

The only remaining thing to do is to weave in the ends with your yarn needle. Fish them through to the inside of your sock securing them so they can’t come loose. Trim or leave them as you see fit. I don’t like knots so I weave my ends probably more than necessary but they don’t come loose ever (another benefit of wool).  

Repeat for the second sock.  

Comments:

Sizing to a foot you may not own. My foot is (excuse my nasty runner’s toes) exactly 10 inches long and 9 inches around the widest part of my foot. My sock fits that exactly. If the foot you are going to make it for is bigger you can adjust in several ways. Start with more stitches and increase to more than 44. Work more rows to start the heel and then end with only 10 stitches. Consequently, you can do the opposite for a smaller foot.My gauge is 5 st and 6 rows to the nch. I’ll be honest. I play fast and loose with these socks since they are prettyquick to knit and I have done a lot of themin various iterationsso already know my basic gauge. You may knit tighter than I do or looser so your mileage may vary. You may want to use size 5 needles or size 7 with worsted weight yarn. If your favorite yarn is dk or sport weight you will get a different result so you will want to check your gauge to get the correct measurements. Basically the increasing part of the toe is about 2 inches. The foot part is 5 ½ inches and my heel is 2 ½ inches when completed. Once you know your gauge (by working on the actual needles in the round – yes it does make a difference) you can figure out how may rows you will need and how may stitches to get a sock that will fit the foot you are making it for. Since this is such a vanilla pattern you can spice it up any way you like with color and funky patterns but keep in mind different patterns will affect your gauge. Yarn choice. I prefer wool since it is warm, fairly stretchy and easy to buy.  HOWEVER – wool does require some careful instructions since most wool is not of the superwash variety unless that is what you have. If you accidently put wool socks in the wash they will suddenly fit a toddler. So if you are making these for someone else include hand washing instructions.