How do you reinforce toes or heels of socks? I think there is more than one way to do it and I’d like to check them out. (One way I saw, as I recall, has you weave a reinforcing yarn throught the knitted stitches, I know that heel flaps can be slip stitched.) Do you use the same yarn you’re knitting with or something else? I’ve decided I love handmade socks and want to get the most mileage possible out of them.
One other question. Knit Picks has cotton/acrylic sock yarn. Will the acrylic do the same thing as nylon? I think lots of commercially made socks have acrylic and no nylon.
I’ve only done it once, and that was just on the heel turn. All I did was knit with 2 strands of yarn. I can’t tell you how it works because I haven’t worn the socks yet. I haven’t finished them, but that’s another story…
I don’t have much experience with socks and sock yarn. I only have the KnitPicks superwash merino/nylon yarn.
Lizars, were the heels a lot thicker? I think that would be OK on heels, I’m not sure about toes. Hmmmm… I’ve only made a few pairs of socks, only 2 w/sock yarn. My pink sox are so warm I don’t wear them much. The others aren’t as warm but they’re still warm enough I can only wear them when it’s pretty chilly. I think both were made with LB SockEase. I’m thinking of cotton sock yarn so I can wear handmade socks all year. That would be luxury!
Definitely thicker, but not a problem on the heel. I haven’t tried the toe. I agree with you that it might be a bit awkward, but sock yarn is pretty thin, so it might be OK. I was using fingering weight and size 1 needles, so it’s all relative as far as thickness goes.
Do you do socks from the toe or the leg? I just ordered some toe up books from the Knit Picks sale, but haven’t gotten them yet. If you do toe up you could always try doubling the yarn and see how thick it is before you get the whole sock done.
I do toe-up. I don’t like to do Kitchener stitch and I know how much yarn it takes to make a sock but I’m afraid of running out because I used too much on the cuff. I keep thinking I should look at some books but so far have just done the Lifestyle Sock thing, no swatch, make to fit. I want to try some mini cables on my next pair so I’ve been playing with twisted stitches. I think there is some kind of reinforcing yarn you can use but I’m not sure. I need go google and see what I can find out. Right now I’m working on a shawl I need to get done, a google break sounds like a good idea.
Size 1 needles, that’s what I used last time and ended up with 000 dpns to do the cuff.
I looked up “wooly nylon” and think I better check out what JoAnn has. I’m planning a trip to town and a stop there anyhow. It looks like it would be a lot less expensive than the other stuff made for the purpose. Maybe if I get some I’ll have to get a serger to go with it. That would save me a lot! :mrgreen: One thing leads to another. Such is life.
I don’t sew much lately, I used to sew a lot. I made every day stuff and dance dresses for my DD when she was in HS, her friends wanted me to sew for them when they saw her clothes I made. Part of my not sewing thing is I really need to replace my sewing machine, I’ve looked and thought about which one I would get, but if I spend $$ on a new sewing machine I can’t spend it on yarn. My GD has quilt squares that she’s started sewing together, I’ve got to have her come work on them some more or send them home with her. When the sewing bug bites, all I do is sew. Lately the knitting bug has the upper hand. I do see a sewing daybed set in my future.
Ohhh I see. I forgot about that. I used to sew, but not anymore. Way too fiddly and it’s just so much easier and quicker to just pick up needles and yarn.
I’ve never worked with needles that small. I’d be afraid I’d break them. I ordered some size 1 circulars to try for socks. I have a set of dpns for socks, but I feel so clumsy when I use them. I’m hoping ML will work better for me. I’m excited to try.
Yeah, but knitting Xmas PJs for the GKs seems too daunting. I’m stuck with making Xmas PJs for the rest of my life! Usually they have them to open on on Xmas eve. This last time, it didn’t work out that way and I guess they thought I didn’t do them and almost cried. Silly kids.
I like ML but my limited experience with dpn makes me think it wouldn’t be so bad for making a whole sock, I might even like it. Yeah, aluminum sock needles can bend but they still knit! The thought of something grabbier for that small…not for me I think. I have 2 sets of sock dpn. They come in handy for holding a few stitches if I’m rearranging or want them off the needle while I fix a mistake and I’ve used them for the heel while the rest of the stitches are still on a circ. I’d have to have 2 complete sets of the same size (I probably do, thanks to overlap in the 2 sets) if I want to work on 2 @ a time and that’s the only way I can be sure they look like a pair.
I used some really skinny needles and knitted crochet thread just for grins and giggles. That was way cool. I’ve been thinking about what to knit with the thread.
Have you done 2 at a time on dpns? That’s why I’m getting the circs. So I don’t run into the issue I’m having now, which is that I did one sock a couple of years ago, and am just finishing up the second sock now.
Interesting thought to use the dpns for the heel while the other stitches are on the circs. I’ll have to look into that when I start my next pair. It might be too complicated for my limited sock experience. I need to have pretty specific pattern instructions to be able to do them.
I don’t even know if that possible. I think if I wanted to do two at a time I’d make two separate socks at one time.this is actually what I do with ML socks. Then I can just carry one at a time.
Probably not possible on one set of dpns. So you use two separate ML and do one sock on each but do them at the same time? That would be sort of like using 2 sets of dpns and doing the same thing. It seems kind of confusing to me.
Ha! ha! I knew about something and Jan didn’t! neener neener. I feel so grown up today. :roflhard:
Someone mentioned this in a thread some time back…months? a year? I came across this video on youtube. I have to watch it now. Curiosity can be such a time suck, but when you’re near comatose like I am today, it’s cheap entertainment.
ETA: I’ve watched the 1st video. I’m thinking it looks very awkward. Why not knit with 1 ball of yarn, slipping the 2nd sock’s stitches, then go round again and knit the 2nd sock…hopefully with the correct yarn. I think this is something I might try one day just to say I did it. It looks way too easy to mess up. If I did it, I would do different color socks and then knit the mates. I think.
Wow. I just watched the first part of that video too. It seems like a crazy process! I guess this is one of those things where if you can think of it, someone has already done it. Let me know if you actually try it. It’s too far out for me.
