How To Knitting Pattern Socks


in this tutorial weã­re going to learn toknit magic loop, toe-up socks. which is really one of my favorite ways toknit socks. toe-up is definitely my favorite, and i goback and forth between double pointed needles and using magic loop for my favorite. um, if you want to follow along with the patternweã­re using here, itã­s available for purchase and download over on my website, and iã­vegiven you a link in the video description just below the video. the unique thing about this pattern is forthe first time ever, i include sizes for the whole family. men, women and kids.
and these are the menã­s socks. um, one of the benefits ã± well, iã­ll tellyou the benefits to both toe-up and magic loop. the benefit to toe-up, that i like the most,is that you can use all of your yarn, no leftovers. because you start at the toe, you knit themost important part of the foot first, the foot, and then you use up the rest of theyarn on the cuff, making it however long you can with the amount of yarn you have. and i like to not have leftovers [laughs],so thatã­s important to me. and then magic loop, instead of using short,double pointed needles in a set of four or
five, you use one long circular needle. and because youã­re not using several needles,you donã­t have to readjust every third or every quarter of the stitches. half the stitches are on one cord, and halfare on the other, which makes it less fiddly. so i think this is a really great way to knitsocks, and iã­m excited to teach it. please keep in mind that this is tutorial,weã­re using worsted-weight yarn and much bigger needles than you would normally useto knit socks. sock yarn is really fine, and we normallyuse really tiny needles to knit that. weã­re using bigger yarn ã± not this big ofneedles! these are just my sample needles.
[laughs] but this is so you can see what youã­re doingreally easily, you learn the techniques, and then you can move on to other toe-up patternsand knit them magic loop style without any problem. itã­s easy to adjust any toe-up sock patternto magic loop method. so, first up, weã­re going to get startedwith the provisional cast on and the short row toe. because these are toe-up socks, we are goingto start at the toe, and itã­s really unique the way this whole thing is put together.
we start with a provisional cast on. and thatallows us to work normally like we do from a cast on. we cast on and work one direction. but then weã­re also able to unzip the provisionalcast on we stitched in to knit the other direction as well. and thatã­s going to be right at the centerof the toes going this way. you donã­t have to understand it to be ableto work it, but thatã­s how itã­s going to go. um, everything that you need is listed onmy webpage and in the pattern, but weã­re going to start with a crochet hook and somescrap yarn in a color different than what
youã­re using for the socks. so letã­s get started with the provisionalcast on toe. here is a finished pair of the man sized socks. weã­re going to start here with the provisionalcast on, and work our way around this way, and then knit the foot, and then pretty muchwork the same short rows that we did for the toe here for the heel. and then knit the cuff until weã­re out ofyarn. okay. now for this example iã­m using bulky yarn,and a much bigger crochet hook than i recommend
for the pattern. this is just so you can really see what iã­mdoing. the very first thing iã­m going to do is totie a knot in this yarn. a knot that i can feel, thatã­s the wholepurpose of it is so i can feel it. then iã­ll tie a slip knot, a little waysup from there. i want to be able to identify easily whichside is the slip knot side. here iã­m going to use my crochet hook, andweã­re going to do some crochet chaining to start the cast-on. um, if youã­ve never done this before, youwant to have your left hand pincher fingers
always pinching low, close to the bottom ofthat last loop. you grab it and pull it through, grab it andpull it through. up from under, like that. this is just a basic crochet chain. and youã­llfollow your pattern for your size to tell you how many you need to chain. i have not been counting. but a couple more should do me, and i needscissors. okay. break the yarn, and pull that last loopthrough. now, a crochet chain, when you look at thefront of it, it looks like a cast on row or
a bind off row. itã­s a bunch of vs. but if you turn it over to the back, you havewhat most people call the ã¬spineã® of the crochet chain, or what i always call hyphens.[laughs] thatã­s what they look like to me! little horizontal loops like this, that arenã­ttouching each other, but you can see them there. now this is when you need your knitting needles,and your actual sock yarn. starting with the end where the slip knotis, and you know where that is because you tied a little knot there, put your needlethrough one of the hyphens, and you want to attach your yarn.
just fold your yarn over making a loop, wrapit around the needle and pull it through. go into the next hyphen, wrap it and pullit through. this is like knitting with one needle. and do your best not to split any stitches.go cleanly in. and wrap it and pull it through. it will be harder to get the provisional caston out if you split stitches. iã­m splitting this here, iã­m going to domy best not to. sometimes i find that using a more blunt endedneedle when iã­m picking up this row is easier, because sharp needles are more likely to splitthe stitch.
now that iã­ve picked those up, those lookgood, iã­m just going to purl back across these stitches before we start the short rows. and weã­re just using this circular needlefor flat knitting right now, weã­re not knitting in the round yet. now weã­re ready to start the short rows,and this is when the magic starts. knit across to the last stitch. and iã­m going to do whatã­s called a wrapand turn. itã­s a little different on this very laststitch to work it, or at least thatã­s how i like to do it.
pull the yarn forward between the two needles,slip that stitch from the left needle to the right, turn the work, make sure your yarnis coming around to the front like this, slip that stitch back, and then purl back acrossthe rest of the stitches. and when you pull that yarn around, youã­llsee it wraps the base of that stitch. thatã­s the wrap. then you purl back across to the last stitch. whoops, last stitch. then you pull the yarn back between the twoneedles, slip that stitch, turn your work, and make sure the yarnã­s coming around fromthe outside like that, slip that stitch over
to the right needle, and knit across to thesecond stitch from the end. now this is more like how the rest of thewraps are going to go. forward between the two needles, slip thatstitch, back between the two needles, slip that stitch back over to the left needle. turn your work, purl back across to the secondto the last stitch. back between the two needles with your workingyarn, slip that stitch, forward between the two needles, slip that stitch back, turn yourwork. and iã­ll show you that one more time. because iã­m using this big, bulky yarn, iã­mnot following the numbers for the pattern.
weã­re only going to wrap three stitches onthe outside. so iã­m three stitches from the end now. pull the working yarn forward between thetwo needles, slip that stitch, back between the two needles, slip that stitch back overto the left needle, turn the work. and weã­ll do the same thing on the purl sideon the third stitch from the end. back between the two needles, slip that stitch,forward between the two needles, slip it back. your pattern will have you wrapping more stitchesthan this. but this is what weã­re using here for the sake of example. and weã­re already starting to get somethingthat is acting kind of toe shaped!
itã­s going to become much more clear now. so now weã­re going to pick up those wraps. iã­m going to knit over to the third stitchfrom the end, the last stitch that i wrapped. and this is all clear in the pattern. and if you take a close look at this stitch,there is a horizontal bar running just underneath the base of the stitch, and thatã­s the wrap. what i want to do is put my needle in thereand pick it up, and put it up on the needle with the stitch. and then i want to knit those two together.
and then iã­m going to wrap this next stitch,giving it a second wrap. forward, slip, back, slip, turn the work. now weã­re going to pick up a stitch on thepurl side. i have a lot of cord flopping around herethat iã­m not using yet, we will be using it soon, though. this part is not even really magic loop yet. okay i want to pick up this first wrap onthe purl side, but i really want to make it look nice on the knit side. so iã­m going to turn the work like this andfind the wrap, itã­s the horizontal bar that
doesnã­t match up with the rest of the stitches. pick it up, put it on the needle, and purlthose two stitches together. and iã­m going to give the next stitch a secondwrap, and turn the work. and iã­ll show you this one more time. hereã­s the second stitch from the end, itactually has two wraps. itã­s your choice if you want to pick up oneor both of them. iã­m going to pick up both of them, so nowi have three stitches there, iã­m going to knit three together. and give the last stitch a second wrap.
okay, here we are two stitches from the endon the purl side. turn the work like this so i can see boththe wraps, pick one up and put it on the needle, pick the other one up put it on the needle. purl those three loops together. whoops, iã­m splitting it. which is likelyto happen with three stitches there. and then give the last stitch a wrap. and youã­ll need to do that until youã­vepicked up stitches all the way to the end, following the pattern, of course. weã­re getting something very toe shaped now!
thatã­s how youã­ll finish up the wrap andturns on the toe, and next up weã­re going to talk about unzipping the provisional caston, and starting to knit magic loop in the round. now that youã­ve finished the short rows onthe toe, weã­re ready to unzip the provisional cast on and start knitting in the round. letã­s get right to it. here is the toe, and again, iã­m using reallybulky yarn here so i can demonstrate this to you quickly. um, were you surprised that those short rowsended up coming out like this?
[laughs] and it looks like a toe?! and the red yarn here is my provisional caston, the crochet chain i started with. now to get started with unzipping the caston, set your work like this, and if you feel on your yarn, youã­ll feel the knot we tiedin the slip knot end over here on the left. we want the non slip knot side over here onthe right. and the cord should be coming out of, theneedle cord should be coming out of the stitches on the back. so take this needle [coughs], excuse me. take this needle over here on the right side,this is the one weã­re going to be using.
and undo this crochet chain. all you did was pull that last thread throughthe last loop, so if you undo that, it will start unzipping. get yourself down to the first stitch. and, itã­s going to start you out with a problemhere, because the first stitch is going to be wonky. and wouldnã­t you know it? i split the yarnin the first stitch. hereã­s my first stitch right here. the yarn actually, the provisional cast onactually runs through it.
can you see that? so iã­m going to put my yarn in there ã± iã­msorry. put my needle in there and then pull that yarn out. now thatã­s the only really wonky one. therest of them are going to be easier. you see, thereã­s the provisional cast on.right under it, we see a v. thatã­s the stitch we want to pick up. and if you put your needle behind and throughthe right leg of that v, youã­ve got it. and then you can unzip that stitch. put your needle behind the v of the next one,unzip that stitch.
or if youã­re like me, i like to go throughseveral at once. again iã­m just picking up the right leg ofthat stitch. and then unzip the provisional cast on, severalat a time. now i was hoping this wouldnã­t happen, butiã­m kind of glad it did. i must have split a stitch, because this isnã­tgoing any further. and if you look, youã­ll find some yarn inthe color of your crochet chain that you can snip, and itã­s funny to think that itã­susually just barely one little fiber of yarn thatã­s holding the whole thing up. but if you snip it, then you can get the restof the chain undone.
so go back across all of these, picking themup. i canã­t quite see where my last one is. but i just counted. this is freaking me out ã± there should beone more. oh! i see it! there we go ã± iã­m glad i was able to seeit! this bulky yarn does have itã­s benefits there! so now weã­re ready to start knitting in theround. if you turn your work, youã­ll see that yourworking yarn is coming from this side over
here, i just flipped it. and this is where the fun starts. the funtv knitting, magic loop knitting. so your working yarn is coming from this stitchhere. when we get started, itã­s a little bit different in subsequent rows. your tail end is coming from the back. line up your needles like this, and pull theback needle long. this is the one weã­re going to hold in ourright hand to knit with. and weã­re going to be knitting off the leftneedle just like normal. so you knit across these stitches.
okay, and weã­ve reached the end here. so,iã­m going to turn the work. line up the needles again. whoops ã± i need to explain it as i do it!my hands are on auto pilot here! line up the needles, pull the back needlelong, and knit across the stitches on the front needle. and thatã­s it! iã­ll show you one more time. this is the beauty of magic loop. turn your work.
line up your needles. pull the back needle long, and knit acrossthe stitches on the front needle. and thatã­s going to get you through the wholefoot of the sock. youã­ll want to follow the pattern to knowhow long of a foot to knit for the different sizes, and then next up weã­re going to talkabout doing the same wrap and turns to create the heel of the sock. if youã­ve finished knitting the foot of yoursock, and probably watched at least one good movie while you were doing that, weã­re readyto start the same short row heel turns ã± same short row turns as we did for the toe,for the heel.
letã­s take a look. now iã­ve switched to not only an itty bittysample, but iã­m now using the correct weight of yarn and needles that we use, that i giveyou in the pattern. now, youã­ve knit the whole sock, the lengthyou need it, and weã­re ready to start doing the same wrap and turns on the heel. so i have my needles lined up, iã­ll pullthe back one long. and this is a really simple concept iã­m goingto show you, which is why iã­m using this smaller size. you are going to do the exact same thing youdid with the toe on the heel.
itã­s amazing that the same technique worksto turn the heel. but instead of having a provisional cast on,you have these stitches hanging out here on this cord, which is going to act just likethe provisional cast on did in the toe. so iã­m going to knit up to the last stitchand start my wraps and turns. and then turn the work, and youã­re workingfrom the wrong side, and this cord is just hanging there. youã­re not really knitting magic loop anymore. going from those bulky needles to these smallerneedles is so nice for me! i can knit so much better on smaller needles! [laughs]
you see there, iã­m just turning the workand working back and forth while those other stitches are hanging out there on the cord. and iã­ll go through and get all my wrapsfinished, and then iã­ll go back through again and pick up those wraps, the exact same wayi did on the toe. and when youã­re finished with that, whenyouã­re finished turning the heel, your work will look like this. and i want to show you how to go from knittingthe heel to working in the round again. i give you some instructions in the pattern,but just in case. before you start knitting the two by two rib,i tell you to knit a couple of rows plain,
before you go into the rib. and one reason is because itã­s nice to havethe ribbing up out of the back of your shoe or whatever, but also we can use those extracouple of plain knitting rounds to pick up stitches where there might be holes, justin case. now after you knit the heel, turn the heelon this side, you can end up with gaps here. and thatã­s kind of a normal part of toe-upsock knitting. but theyã­re so easy to fix. and thatã­s what i want to show you. iã­m going to pull the back needle long, andknit across these stitches, weã­re actually going to start knitting in the round again.
and when i get to the end of this, iã­m ina spot where i can potentially have a hole in my sock. so iã­m going to pick up an extra stitch here,just to help close the gap. and to do that, iã­ll find a spot where idonã­t think itã­s going to pull to much, and test it out, and go under a couple ofthreads there, of yarn, there that looks good. wrap it and pull it through, just like whenyou were picking up stitches in the provisional cast on. and give it a tug, and it should look good,it shouldnã­t pull and make a different looking hole, it should actually fill up that hole.
line up my needles again, pull that back needlelong, and just keep going, weã­re knitting in the round now. and on this first round, iã­m going to pickup stitches like that, and then on the next round, when i get to the end here, iã­ll knittwo together, get to the end here, knit two together, to eliminate those extra stitchesthat i picked up. so that i have the correct number. and one thing that i didnã­t mention, thati always like to do, is i use one of these little diaper pin clippie markers, and clipit to the sock at the spot between the needles that is the beginning of my round.
and thatã­s how i will remember itã­s thebeginning of my round. next up weã­re going to talk about knittingin two by two rib for the cuff, and the special bind off that we use to make sure itã­s reallystretchy on the calf. weã­ve got one last little bit of instructionto help you with questions you might have in knitting the cuff. letã­s take a quick look. hereã­s the sock, and weã­re using two bytwo rib, which is a really nice, stretchy cuff on the sock. and youã­ll follow your pattern to get upto that spot.
but here i am on my teeny tiny little sample. ready to work the two by two rib. just like with the rest of the sock weã­vebeen knitting, iã­ll pull the back needle long. and iã­ll start with two knit stitches, whichyou should be very good at by now. and then to go into the purl stitches, i pullthe yarn forward between the two needles, and purl two, and then back between the twoneedles to knit two. back to knit two, forward to purl two. and you may need to rearrange the stitcheson the needle. i like to always end with purl
two. depending on your size, you might need toslide two of the stitches over to the other needle. if you end with knit two, that means you haveto start with purl two on the other side, and that is too much to think about if youã­retrying to watch tv. okay, thatã­s working the ribbing. now i wantto show you how to do this really stretchy bind off. you donã­t want a tight bind off, becauseyouã­ll never get it over your foot, and you donã­t want something that is so loose thatit ends up being kind of fluted.
so i have what i called a modified yobo, yarnover bind off. because itã­s not a straight yarn over bind off, itã­s actually two regularbind offs and then a yarn over bind off. and this is what it looks like. start by knitting two, bind off one. knitone, bind off one. and then yarn over. pull the yarn forwardbetween the two needles, bind off over that yarn over, and thatã­s the sequence. so knit one, bind off one. knit one, bindoff a second one. yarn over, bind off. itã­s giving us an extra stitch every twostitches. knit one, bind off, knit two, bind off, yarnover, bind off.
i hope you understand! [laughs] iã­m not readyto bind off on this sock, that was just to show you how to do it. anyway, good luck with your toe-up magic loopsocks. [music]