sock toe

December Sock KAL: Toe

Have you been enjoying your sock KAL?

If you didn’t have time to join in before the holidays you can save all of these up for a cosy crafty holiday treat.

Our next video is going to be all about the sock toe. I’ll take a look at short row and standard toes and will show you how to graft those last stitches together.

Come join me on Saturday the 19th of December at 4 pm Irish time (11 am EST). Psst – do you have trouble with timezones too? If you click below you can set a reminder for yourself which will adjust for your time zone.


Standard Toe Construction

For a standard top-down sock to work the toe you work 4 decreases every other round. These happen at each end of the instep and each end of the sole. When you are coming towards the top of the toe you move into working them every round to decrease more quickly. Finally, at the very end, you will graft the remaining stitches together for a seamless finish.

sock toe

Short Row Toe

To work a short row toe it’s actually worked in the very same way as the short row heel! (See details here on the last blog post). You will work on the top of the toe stitches (if working from the top down) and will work one stitch less before you turn until you reach the narrowest point of the toe. At that point, you will begin working one stitch more every row before you turn. For top-down it’s not an ideal method as you will end up with a lot of stitches to graft!

However short rows are great if you’re working your sock from the toe up. You will start with a provisional cast on for half the stitches and can then work the short row toe. When it’s complete all you need to do is unpick the provisional cast-on and you have all the stitches you need to move onto the foot.

Pattern: Working The Toe

Toe

Join Colour B.

Pm at centre of sts. This will divide top and bottom of sock evenly.

Rnd 1: K1, ssk, knit to 3 sts before m, k2tog, k1, sl m, k1, ssk, knit to 3 sts before end of rnd, k2tog, k1, sl m.  4 sts dec’d.

Rnd 2: Knit.

Rep last 2 rnds 8 (8, 9) more times. 32 (36, 40) sts.

Rep Rnd 1 only 5 (6, 7) times. 12 (12, 12) sts.

Cut yarn with a long tail, arranging sts if necessary so there are 6 (6, 6) sts each on two needles for top and bottom.  Graft stitches together.

FINISHING

Weave in all yarn ends with tapestry needle.  Block socks to correct dimensions.

For second sock if you are using 2 x 50 g skeins of different colour reverse Colours A & B so that you will get 2 socks out of the 2 skeins of yarn.

Grafting

Place an equal number of stitches on of two needles (front and back); break yarn leaving a generous tail. Thread a tapestry needle with the yarn.

Step 1:

With RS facing, pull tapestry needle through first front stitch as if to purl.

Step 2:

Pull needle through first back stitch as if to knit.

Step 3:

Pull needle through first front stitch as if to knit and slip stitch off needle.

Pull needle through next front stitch as if to purl but leave stitch on needle.

Step 4:

Pull needle through first back stitch as if to purl and slip stitch off needle.

Pull needle through next back stitch as if to knit but leave stitch on needle.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until 1 st remains on each needle. Take care to pull yarn carefully through worked stitches periodically. Make sure you do not work it too tight; it should look like a knitted stitch.

For final sts, pull tapestry needle through front st as if to knit and slip off needle, pull needle through back st as if to purl and slip off needle.


Join in!

If you are fashionably late to the party you can find all the KAL post right here on my blog! Plus all the youtube videos are available here.

Have fun knitting your socks over the holidays, stay cosy and safe xxx

2 thoughts on “December Sock KAL: Toe

  1. Wonderful Waves I call this sweet gift from a most delightful teacher. Many thanks and hugs from Northern Alberta, where warm socks are a gift for cold feet year round. I hope to do a family share learning time sock knitting UTUBE. The magic loop demonstration was great 👍. Descriptions very helpful and seeing is always the magic.
    Mom is a left handed/right trying, daughter gets confused. Part of the cold feet gang that need to knit theirs. We are in Covid lockdown again, making socks together on FaceTime might be fun 🤩 thx for the gift.

  2. Oh I love the idea of a family sock kal :-) We’re on lockdown again here from tomorrow evening. It’s so yo-yo on and off we hardly notice any more. Now if only brexit/the UK shipping issues get sorted we’ll be ok!

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