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Lesson 1: The Pattern
Without further ado, here's the Basic Ribbed Sock Pattern taken almost verbatim from my socknitting notes.
Cast on C stitches loosely.
Round 1: join in the round and beginning ribbing, centering knitted stitches of rib pattern over join. Join marks the beginning of the round.
For a crew sock: Work C - 2 more rounds of ribbing.
For a shortie sock: Work 1/2 C - 2 or 1/3 C - 2 more rounds of ribbing.
On the next round, work ribbing 3/4 of the way around the sock. Work last 1/4 stockinette.
On the round after that, work first 1/4 in stockinette, rib the middle 1/2, and work the last 1/4 in stockinette. Continue until there are 1/10 C rounds done like this.
Next round: start Sherman Heel, centered at beginning of round.
Work C - 2 rounds for the foot, maintaining ribbing on the instep (middle 1/2) and stockinette on the first and last 1/4.
Work 2 rounds in stockinette to make a foundation for grafting the toe.
Next round: start Sherman Toe, centered at beginning of round.
Kitchener toe closed and weave in ends.
Not much of a pattern, is it? But I assure you, it contains all the instructions you need. We're going to step through the pattern in greater detail in the later lessons, and when we are done you will know exactly what to do.
Let's talk a bit about sock anatomy. Here's a sock:
The aqua line at the top is the cast on edge. The red lines are the cuff. The blue lines are the leg of the sock. The orange square is the heel. The purple lines are the foot. The green lines are the toe. And finally, the aqua line between the toe and the foot is where the toe is grafted closed.
You can knit a sock in two different directions. You can either start at the toe and work your way up, or you can start at the cuff and work your way down. The Basic Ribbed Sock pattern is for knitting socks cuff downward. You cast on at the beginning of the cuff, work the cuff and leg, then the heel, then the foot, then the toe.
Now take a look at the pattern again. The pattern contains a description, although brief, for each part of the sock. This is exactly the type of pattern socknitters write for their own use - concise, simple, and complete. It would fit on an index card and tuck into a small knitting bag with your sock in progress (SIP)
Here's a chart you can print out to help you with the pattern. We'll begin filling this chart out together in the next Lesson.
D |
Gs |
to Cast On D x Gs x R = C |
|
L |
Gr |
M |
for Foot Gr x (L - 2 M) = F |
| Ribbing Pattern | |||
| Ribbing Repeat (number of stitches) |
On first round, start ribbing with |
||
| Cast on method | |||
| Rounds for Leg/Cuff | C | ||
| Rounds before heel | 1/10 C | ||
| Unworked heel stitches | = 1/6 of C | ||
| Rounds for Foot | = C - 2 (or F) | ||
| Rounds in Plain Stockinette before toe | = 2 | ||
| Unworked toe stitches | = 1/6 of C | ||