Yes, it’s another long-term goal that I am documenting on my blog.
If you have been following along my social media, you may have seen my recent obsession with sock knitting. I have had a goal for years now to learn how to knit for the sole purpose of being able to make knit socks. There is just something different about the fabric that knitting creates, and while I love to crochet I knew that I was missing out if I didn’t learn how to knit.
I want to share with you my entire journey as I learn to knit- from my preparations and research, to my first few knitting projects and techniques, to actually knitting socks, and figuring out my favorite methods to make my dream pair of socks. I’ll be posting fairly regularly to keep you in the loop, so subscribe to my blog to be notified when I post! You can also follow me on Instagram @crowchetcreations or through the hashtags #crowchetcreations and #greatsockknittingjourney to stay up-to-date on my progress.
I’m probably too much of a planner, and I wanted to set myself up for success, so I evidently delayed actually starting on my goal. From being a pretty confident crocheter who has started designing her own patterns to becoming a sock knitter just seemed like too daunting of a creative leap. I was also worried that most of the resources out in the world for new knitters are intended for fiber artists newbies and not for someone who is proficient in crochet. What if I get bored from all the simple things to learn before I get to knit my dream pair of socks? I wanted to learn how to knit while avoiding the frustration of a new hobby where I can’t quite make my hands do what I want them to.
Inspiration
What really pushed me over the edge towards actually preparing to learn how to knit was the influence of some of my Instagram friends. Both @balancedskein and @dreashook have shared online about their knitting projects, and have also mentioned a corner of YouTube for knitting podcasts. I had no idea knitting podcasts were a thing! And so I fell down the rabbit hole.
The more knitters I discovered on YouTube, the more I wanted to finally join the ranks of sock knitters. Knitty Natty and Crazy Sock Lady have become favorites of mine to follow online. Knitting vicariously through their videos was only barely scratching my sock itch. I decided that I needed to learn how to knit socks!
The task still seemed pretty daunting. To me, sock knitting is the culmination of multiple intermediate/advanced knitting techniques, of which I knew exactly none. I needed to learn the basics while also progressing fast enough to reach my beloved socks before my creative steam wore out. I set out to do some research so I could make an effective game plan.
My original goal was to be comfortable enough to make a sock during Sock Week in August, but I recently heard about Summer Sock Camp in June hosted by @thecrazysocklady, so I think I will try to participate in that! Even with fewer months to prepare, I think I will be ready for Sock Camp since I am already really getting into knitting as we speak. Now that I have started this process, I can’t believe I waited so long!
Research
In my casual exposure to knitting (through knitting podcasts or random knitting Instagram posts), I figured that there were multiple methods and styles to knitting socks.
Toe up or cuff down?
Magic loop? DPNs (double pointed needles) like Grandma used to use? 9 inch circulars?
Afterthought heel? Short row heel? Fish lips kiss heel (I think this is a type of short row heel)? I’m still trying to understand how heels work if I’m being honest.
I arbitrarily decided that I wanted to do a toe up sock with 9″ circular needles. To me, it just seemed the most logical way to make socks and try them on throughout the process. Once I can wrap my brain around sock knitting, I am sure that I will branch out, but we will start with some sort of toe up sock on 9″ circulars. I’ll probably make whatever my pattern tells me to do with the heels since those still mystify me.
I have also learned that a vanilla sock refers to one that uses stockinette stitches in the round- just a plain, simple sock without any craziness. I think that a vanilla sock is the perfect place to start, especially since I am most excited to have a pair of socks I knit myself that actually fit me and I don’t care if they have any fancy lace. Plus, vanilla socks are the perfect way to showcase beautiful hand-dyed yarn! And when comparing socks to sweaters, it is much more economical to buy sock quantities than sweater quantities of any yarn, big box or indie dyed.
Resources
There are so many different resources out there for learning to knit, and many resources specifically devoted to sock knitting. I scoured Amazon reviews and Google to find a great beginner’s guide to knitting and landed on Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book. From what I gathered, this coffee table book has everything from the basics up through more complex concepts. The newer edition is only a few years old. And it is seriously a beautiful book! With so many books out there, I found that the majority of reviews clued in that this book would be the best book to have if you could only have one knitting book in your craft room. Since I wasn’t about to blow my whole paycheck on knitting books (even though I filled my Amazon cart), I decided one book would be a great place to start.
But paying $50 for a book felt like a big splurge when I knew I would be getting most of my tutelage from the internet. My local secondhand book store came in clutch and offered my copy for half the sticker price. And since I could pick it up in person I could guarantee that it was usable and neat. Score!
There are many other knitting books that caught my eye, especially a few specific to sock knitting, but I think I will learn how to knit socks before I try to make something crazy and customized. If I fall in love with sock knitting as much as I expect to, some of these books will definitely go on my wish list for a birthday.
As I mentioned above, I expect that I will pull many resources from the internet. I think YouTube has a ton of really great tutorials for both basic techniques as well as entire projects and even socks. I have started pinning some knitting patterns and resources in a specific knitting board on my Pinterest. You can follow me there to see the projects and techniques I am interested in learning!
Tools
I have a few random pairs of knitting needles from my grandmother, but I knew that I needed some tools specific for knitting socks. I decided upon 9″ circular needles, and wanted to invest in some really nice interchangeable needles. I wanted to set myself up for success and avoid any reason to dislike knitting socks (including having cheap needles!). I also felt like if I wanted to invest in an interchangeable needle set in the future, I could then use the needle components I already purchased with the set.
With that in mind, I researched interchangeable needles that could be purchased separately (I wasn’t going to be able to justify buying an entire set when I haven’t even started knitting yet). There are quite a few recommended sets online, including Hiya Hiya and Knit Picks, but I have heard people talking about the Chiaogoo interchangeable knitting needles. The red lace cable is what does it for some people. I decided to buy some Chiaogoo needles but was quickly overwhelmed by the options! Four inch or five inch needles? Wait, they have mini, small, AND large cables? And different lengths too. What are these things called Twist Shorties? I found some answers on the Chiaogoo website. Basically, depending on the size and length of the needle, only certain cable thicknesses are compatible. You can buy an adapter if you need it though. Chiaogoo has anything from US 000 (super tiny lace needles) up to US 15 (a big chonky needle). Some come in sets and some are only available outside of a set. Since I will be knitting socks, I knew that I needed a smaller needle tip. And as socks seem like the perfect project to work on while traveling (and knitting needles are typically allowed up to 4 inches in length), I wanted a shorter tip. The Twist Shorties are 2″ and 3″ needle tips (so cute!) and only come in smaller needle sizes. Quite a few reviews said they loved using these needles for sock knitting since you can easily make 9″ circulars out of the separate needle components you can buy. Having the needle tips and cable I would need for 9″ circulars, plus testimonials, meant I had found my interchangeables! I’m not sure how my gauge will be on knitting needles, so I bought a couple different sizes of needles (size 1 and size 2) so that I can experiment a little bit. I also bought a 30″ cable separately so that if I am really moved upon to try the magic loop method of casting on a sock I have the ability to do so.
Who knew that the world of interchangeable needles would be so multi-faceted, even within the same company?
I also discovered that there are specific stitch markers designed for knitters. I wanted to have some small safety pin-style markers to help count rows but I also wanted some cuter progress keepers to mark how far I complete in a given interval. I also know that it is helpful to mark specific stitches or stitch locations on a row or round so that you can work your stitches correctly in relation to each other. I decided to buy a variety of stitch markers from Coco Knits since they had multiple products I could try out, rather than buying different styles of markers/progress keepers from different sellers on Etsy. I got some rainbow colored lightbulb markers as well as the rainbow colored Flight of the Stitch Markers to sample a bunch of styles. I was also generously gifted some beautiful handmade markers from @rosybirchdesigns. Now my knitting looks so much more elevated! Am I fooling anyone into thinking I actually know how to knit yet?
Yarn
Like I mentioned above, sock yarn holds a special place in the fiber world. Many indie-dyers sell socks sets with a contrasting mini skein or have a special sock base to sell. While expensive, these yarns are beautiful and very tempting to add to one’s stash. And it is a lot easier financially to just buy a couple skeins of yarn to make a handful of socks than to buy eight skeins of yarn to make a single sweater.
As I begin my knitting journey, I will mainly use my yarn stash to try different projects. However, for my first pair of socks I will use a specific skein of sock yarn that I bought from Michael’s a few years ago (I seriously have been meaning to learn how to knit socks SINCE COLLEGE). I am looking forward to using up some of my inexpensive stash yarn while I am still figuring out sock knitting. Once I make my first pair of socks, I will start using the hand dyed yarns I have started to accumulate. I just purchased some more sock yarn from Explorer Knits & Fibers and Sewrella Yarn, so I am really looking forward to working through my practice socks.
Patterns
For my first knitting project, I wanted to make a flat panel with just a few simple stitches and techniques. I’ll post another blog update about my experience working on my very first knitting pattern if you want to learn more! I chose the Pin Me Up Headband by @knitatude as I had seen in on my Instagram feed a while back and knew it would be the perfect first knitting project.
I decided that my second knitting project should be something made in the round, but also a pretty simple pattern. It’s not the season for hats, especially in Texas, so I wanted a different (and hopefully smaller) project to work on to practice working in the round. I found the Easy Yarn Cozy by Sandra Zimmermann for free on Ravelry, which I will also be posting about in the coming weeks.
Since I am just starting to knit, I am trying to stick to only using free patterns so that I can learn some techniques before really diving into the knitting world. Then, when I have kind of figured out what I am doing, I would love to financially support some knit designers. I would just hate to buy a pattern now that is way too complicated for my little crochet brain to work on! I was able to find these patterns mostly on Ravelry, though I think a Pinterest search would also help if you are looking for some free knitting patterns. If you are wanting to try one of the patterns I am working on but are not using Ravelry, email me and I can send you a copy of the PDF since these are all free downloads I received.
I had to do a lot of research to find a suitable sock pattern. Since I already decided I would make toe up vanilla socks on 9 inch circulars, I was able to narrow my search. But more vanilla sock patterns are cuff down! I finally found two patterns that will teach me a lot. The Vanilla Sock with Gusset & Choice of Heel by Jo Torr for free on Ravelry seemed like a great option, especially since I still don’t really understand the options for heels and therefore don’t know which method I want to try first. Then, in all my research and preparation, I stumbled upon the I’m So Basic Sock by Summer Lee Design Co for free on Ravelry. The coolest part about this pattern is that it is more of a tutorial than simply a pattern. The PDF has the title “School of Sock,” which tells you about the wealth of knowledge found in this pattern! The only problem is that this pattern is cuff down… but I think I will learn a lot about sock knitting from this resource, and I will definitely use this pattern for my first cuff down pair of socks.
As you can see, I have done a lot of research and preparation for beginning this journey of sock knitting. I am ready to start knitting and really invest some heart and soul into the process! I hope you will join me for this journey and share your beginning knit experiences with me as well. You can find me on Instagram @crowchetcreations or through the hashtags #crowchetcreations and #greatsockknittingjourney, please share your own journeys with me there too!
