How to Knit Socks

A sock looks like the hardest thing you can knit and it is really five short, separate jobs in a row: a ribbed cuff, a flat heel flap, a turned heel, a gusset, and a toe. Each one is a few rounds of knitting you already know how to do. This ankle sock from PleasantSeas walks through all five in one sitting, on double pointed needles, in a yarn thick enough that you can see what every stitch is doing.

You need double pointed needles in US 3 (3.25mm), one or two 50g balls of DK or light worsted yarn, a stitch marker and a tapestry needle. If you would rather knit small circles on one long needle, magic loop works for every step here.

Sizes and gauge

The pattern comes in three women's sizes. Cast on 42 stitches for a small (shoe size 5 to 7), 48 for a medium (7.5 to 9) and 56 for a large (9.5 and up). The video shows the small; every number below is for that size. Gauge is 28 stitches and 40 rounds to 4 inches in stockinette. Knit a small swatch first, because a sock that is half an inch too big around slouches down into your shoe by lunchtime.

The heel is the only new idea

Everything above and below the heel is plain knitting in the round. The heel is where a sock turns a corner, and it happens in three moves. The heel flap is worked flat on half the stitches, slipping the first stitch of every row so the edges form a neat chain. The heel turn is a set of short rows that cups the flap. Then you pick up those chain stitches down each side to rejoin the round, which creates the gusset, and decrease them away until you are back to your starting count.

Most first socks go wrong at the pick-up, by leaving a small hole where the flap meets the instep. Pick up one extra stitch in that corner and knit it together with its neighbour on the next round. The hole closes and nobody ever sees it.

Closing the toe

This sock decreases to 10 stitches and then draws them closed with the tail, the same way you finish a hat crown. It is fast and it is hard to get wrong. If you want a flat toe with no gathered point, stop the decreases at around 16 stitches and graft them together instead with Kitchener stitch, which is what most sock patterns use.

Choosing sock yarn

Socks take more wear than anything else you will knit, so the fibre matters. Most sock yarn is about 75 percent wool and 25 percent nylon. The wool keeps feet warm and dry; the nylon is what stops the heel wearing through in a season. Pure merino is soft but thin at the heel within months, and cotton has no stretch, so the cuff sags.

This pattern uses a light DK, which is thicker than classic fingering-weight sock yarn. That is a good thing on a first pair. The stitches are bigger, the sock is finished in a weekend rather than a month, and you learn the heel without squinting. Once the shape makes sense, the same steps work in fingering yarn on 2.25mm needles with a larger cast-on.

Second sock syndrome

The first sock always feels like an achievement and the second always feels like homework. Cast the second one on the day you finish the first, while your hands still remember the heel. Or knit both at once, one step at a time: two cuffs, then two heel flaps, then two turns. They come out matching and you are never left with one sock in a drawer.

When a hole wears through later, darning a sock takes ten minutes and a hand-knit pair is worth saving.