Hey Sock Knitters: Advice Please!
I’m currently working on these Vinnland socks and I’m having a bit of a problem. They’re knitted toe-up, and so far the toes look disproportionately roomy on my foot. I’m using a 2.75mm needle (bigger than the pattern because I’m such a tight knitter) but I’m still getting a tighter gauge. I think the issue is my actual food. I have quite a slender foot with a high arch, so I’m aiming for a 10″ foot circumference. That means I’ve got lots of extra room down near my pointy toes. I don’t really want to knit a smaller size, as that might make it difficult to pull them over my ankles (once I actually get that far). So I figure the options are either to reknit the toes with less stitches and then somehow work in some increases as I go up the foot, or possibly to reknit the toe in a smaller needle and then get larger as I go. Or, of course, there’s always the option to just leave them as is. They’ll probably felt up a bit at the toe from wear anyway, right?
Sock Knitter Advice!
Categories:
Tags:
9 responses
Have never done toe-up (but will, this summer!!). I have the same problem with cuffs though, except the other way (too tight) – next time I’m going to use larger sticks, I think that will do the trick – maybe it will be the same for your toes, but clearly with smaller sticks?
The shaping of the socks should bring them in from the beginning of the toes. Mine always look much longer and narrower in the toes than the ones in that picture. Without knitting them myself I don’t know why. The short-rowing looks really complicated – more complicated than the two ways I have done it – and the result looks kind of stumpy. Yet the stitch count for the short-rowing looks the same as I would do (ie about 1/3 at each sloping side and 1/3 in the middle). You could try using Wendy’s generic toe-up sock pattern (just knit the toe section) and see what’s different about the shaping. For the measuring, Wendy suggests measuring your foot and subtracting about 10% of the stitches to get a firm fit. I’m not sure how this would work with this kind of pattern, though. I like my socks tight and firm on my foot, so I do as she suggests for the foot part, then increase 8 stitches on the first round after the heel so I can get them on more easily.
I don’t think it’s a problem with the short-row toe, per se; it’s actually a nice-looking toe. I think it’s just that most people’s toes are a bit stumpier than mine, so generic patterns tend to leave a bit room around the ball of my foot. I don’t generally notice this when I knit cuff-down, I guess, because I tend to decrease until it fits just right.
I haven’t actually done any toe-up since I first started knitting socks, really, and those are pretty big and loose anyway. I guess it’s just a matter of learning that the end of my foot is a completely different size to the heel-half!
Just to clarify what I mean by “stumpier”: I compared my foot to the Snook’s last night, and his feet are noticeably “thicker” through the ball of the foot than mine are. His might only decrease a couple inches in circumference before the toe, while mine decrease a LOT.
Hmm. Upon further reflection (and knitting), I think these are going to be okay! The problem seems to disappear when I pull the sock towards my heel, which causes the excess fabric around the toe to pull taut. I just need to make them a bit shorter throughout the foot than I had planned, I think.
Increasing is just decreasing backwards.
What about knitting the smaller size for the toe and increasing at the edge of the sole until you are up to the size you want for your heel/ankle. The sole is plain, so you should be able to increase along the edge pretty easily and evenly as needed. Just remember to try it on often.
Hope I made sense.
What about changing a needle size as you go up? start with 2.75mm and go up to a 3? does that make sense? need a V drink…
I was going to try miftik’s plan if I needed to frog, but I’m pretty sure now that I won’t. It only looks lose when it’s draped on my toes. If I actually pull the sock slightly back towards the heel, the extra room gets stretched out. So I’m proceeding cautiously at present. I just need to make sure I don’t make them too long!
I think this is a key thing about socks – they stretch to fit the foot! 🙂