Hi everyone! I’ve been trying to knit basic vanilla toe-up socks. It’s been alright, I’m not a big fan of the wrap-turn heel deal, but them’s the breaks, right? My biggest problem is that after I do the K2P2 cuff and bind off I can’t figure out how to finish it in order for the sock to not be to constricted at the top. I’ve even used a crochet hook that is [I]extremely[/I] larger than the needles for the sock to bind off, yet when I’ve got the yarn threaded on the needle, it all goes to pot when I try to weave in and knot off. The first sock came out okay, not great, but the second sock is awful and I’m not sure how to fix it or if I even should. I’m thinking of just frogging them both and re-doing them top-down. Any help in my effort to save them would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I am not a big fan of the wrap and turn heel either. My next toe up socks I’m going to try a reverse gusset/heel flap.
For a bind off on toe up socks, I use a sewn bind off.
http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/FEATsum06TT.html
For other ideas, you can look here, too (about half way down - how to do a stretchy bind off):
http://www.socknitters.com/FAQ/FAQ_how.htm
I have not tried this way myself yet, but this is the way Morag at www.vintagepurls.co.nz tells us to do it in the latest Sock Club pattern.
Cast off 2 stitches, make a backwards loop on the right hand needle and cast off over it immediately. Repeat till all stitches are cast off.
Thank you both for the links. All those ideas are great, but they don’t tell me what to do at the very end when I finished the last bound-off stitch and I need to tie off. That’s where everything goes haywire. My bind-off itself is stretchy enough, it’s just when I do the final knot that it, apparently, shores up and makes it all tight.
Check out techknitting.blogspot.com She has all the answers! I would love her to write a book.