CLOSING
TOES ON SOCKS
By KarenInTheWoods
pfundt@gmail.com
Here
is my little way to close toes on machine cranked socks.
I have gleaned these ideas from all the great folks helping me out on the
sock knitting list with hints and helpful ideas.
This is how I close a toe effectively without losing stitches or making a
mess!
My
first step is to knit my socks on the circular sock machine. When I create the
toes, I make sure I have an even number of needles on the
foot portion and the toe portion.. so the corners of toe are exactly
at the sides of the sock. This
is important if you are doing, for example, a ribbed surface of foot and a
smooth stockinette bottom sole. You
need an even number of stitches on EACH surface. I learned to start my toes at one needle forward
of the red marks to even out my particular toes doing mock ribbing (3 in 1 out)
on surface and smooth (all in) on sole.
When
ending the toe, I pull about three
feet of the still-connected sock yarn through at the LEFT side
of the cylinder lining up with the corner of the heel and tuck down in
the sock before switching to the scrap yarn.
This tail yarn is used for stitching up the toe later and will then be on
the RIGHT hand side. I knit
about a good 2 inches or more of scrap yarn before starting another sock. The
more the better, until you get good at this. When removing a chain of socks,
I carefully separate each sock leaving the most scrap yarn I can at the
toes…. Less near the
tops…
Now
for the step by step photos:
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Now
find the two cornermost stitches and insert needle into the one on the right,
bring thread to the outside of sock.
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Tuck
the scrap yarn into the toe sock opening like this.. and hold this way for
stitching. The idea of “picking
up stitches” is the you pick up a V shape of the sock yarn..NOT the scrap
yarn. The V stitches we are using
point towards the opening. Picture is an example of what you are picking up.
You are actually following the path of the white scrap yarn where it
enters and leaves a stitch. You now have started the process of stitching up the
toe. It is VERY important
that you catch each and every loop of the stitches, or else they will pull out
upon sock wearing and unravel.
The
idea of closing these toes with the scrap yarn still in place is that it holds
the sock stitches evenly in place without unravelling, without switching to
knitting needles or without dropping the stitches and wrecking the sock.
(Been there..done that!)
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Then
on the top half.. each time picking up a complete V, alternating from top to
bottom.
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Work
you way across the sock, evenly alternating picking up a V from the top row,
bottom row, etc. If you have ribbing or mock ribbing, you will see how there
is a space in your V stitch, just work it in and pull it together. It is
important that you do not pull too tightly on these sewn stitches, as you are
trying to recreate the same size and length and depth of the stitches above and
below the opening.
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Getting
close now to the other side of sock. Coming
down to the last four complete V and one V which is split to on e half from the
above row and one half from below row. (remember
we only used half of each at the other corner too?
Keep going now, one V from bottom ..one V from top.. one V from bottom..
one V from top.
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Now
you should only have two half stitches left.. at corner.
Go through both of those half stitches and run needle up into a row of
stitches.. about four or five.. and pull through..
now skip over a row and back up one stitch, and run up four or five
again, and one more time. Snip off yarn close to surface of sock.
This hides the end effectively, keeps it from unraveling, and there is NO
knot to irritate the toes. Just be
careful to not catch the underside stitches of under layer. Or you will end up
stitching your sock shut!
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Now
turn the sock inside out to carefully remove the scrap yarn on the inside of
sock. (I save my scrap and knot together and use again.)
Be careful when you get close to the seam, and do NOT pull hard on any of
the stitches. A sharp pointed
scissors works wonders here, and many times the scrap yarn is split in between
plies from the needle sewing up the seam. Carefully
snip off the scrap when split areas arise.
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Turn inside out, hand wash in sink (sometimes I use hair shampoo and conditioner and hang to dry) Now the sock is all done!
And
READY TO WEAR… no matter HOW you like to wear them…….
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