Essential Skills for Sock Knitting

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Knit feats of sock perfection in either direction! Learn solutions for every situation with heel and toe styles, shaping, cast-ons, bind-offs, troubleshooting and more.

Set Up for Sock Success

Meet knitting expert Ann Budd and learn all about sock anatomy and how socks can be knitted from the top down or toe up with a variety of heel and toe types. Choose your yarn and start swatching to get the needle size for a perfect fit. Ann also discusses needle types and how to measure your foot.

Top-Down Cast-On & Working in the Round

Learn the Old Norwegian method of casting on for a super-stretchy cuff top. Ann demonstrates how to distribute your stitches on double-pointed needles and three ways to join as you begin the ribbed sock cuff. Or try the tubular cast-on with double-knitting for an extra-cushy edge!

Toe-Up Cast-Ons

For a seamless toe, try a magical cast-on that mimics Kitchener stitch. For a short-row toe, use a crochet hook to create a provisional cast-on, or the twisty wrap cast-on with a double-pointed needle. With Ann’s guidance, you’ll soon be ready to rock on your toe-up socks!

Top-Down Round Heel Shaping

For a top-down sock, Ann shares one of her favorite heel-shaping methods. The round heel is great for people with high insteps and is very cushiony, thanks to slipped stitches. You’ll see how to turn the heel, then pick up stitches and knit the gussets without creating unsightly holes.

Toe-Up Round Heel

The same round heel from Lesson 4 can be created in the reverse direction when you knit from the toe up. Ann walks you through the gusset increases you create simultaneously with the heel stitches. As you shape the heels, you decrease the gussets, too. That means you don’t have have to pick up stitches!

Short-Row Heels

With short-row heels, whether they’re top-down or toe-up, there is no gusset. Learn how to create “companion stitches” using the yarn-over method, then decrease those same stitches to shape the heel. Ann shows you how!

Toe Shaping

Learn Ann’s favorite toe-shaping methods: the short-row toe and the wedge toe. Start with the wedge toe, the most commonly used, and see how to do it from the top down or toe up. Then tackle the short-row toe, which is very similar to the short-row heel.

Bind-Offs

Top-down socks are typically finished by grafting the toe with Kitchener stitch. Ann demonstrates this handy technique, as well as a decorative yet comfortable zigzag bind-off for short-row toes. Working toe-up? Try the sewn, the surprisingly stretchy or the tubular bind-off at the cuff.

Finishing

Finish by weaving in yarn ends and closing any gaps. Ann shares some simple ways to customize shaping to accommodate calves and feet that are not proportionate. Finally, Ann explains how to block socks, but she suggests that you just put them on and enjoy them!