Silver sock tutorial - needle size or yarn weight?

#1

I have done something stupid! I want to follow Silver’s excellent sock making tutorial but have bought sock weight yarn, and size 5 DPNs (confused between UK/US sizes as I am in UK and v new to knitting).

My question is: can I still knit the socks and if so should I follow the instructions for the sock weight yarn or the size 5 needles??

Silver recommends Sport or DK yarn for my size of needle - I guess I’m wondering if weight or needle size is most important?

Am sorry to be such a numpty (great British word for idiot!) :oops:

Hope someone can help.

thanks
emma

#2

Try this web site - it has a chart showing US /UK needle size conversions.
Are yarn weights listed the same in the UK? IE Sport, worsted etc?

http://www.fibergypsy.com/common/needles.shtml

#3

No, yarns are called different things over here but sock weight is the same. For example, worsted is called DK (double knitting) here.

thanks for the link to the site - I know what I should have bought now but the question still remains about if I can continue with the needles I have (US size 5).

I also found this site http://www.kcgtrading.com/conversioncharts.html which is useful reference.

thanks
emma

#4

If you knit with what you have, it will produce a very loose knit. I followed the tutorial with sock weight yarn and US size 3 needles and even that seems a bit loose to me.

#5

You can use 5’s for socks, but you will need a heavier yarn. Also since the spi will be different, the number to CO will be different as well.

#6

I agree! I had to go down to US size one to get a nicely knit sock. It still worked with Silver’s sock tutorial though!