Lynne Rowe is a very experienced author, technical editor and designer. There will also be contributions from other well known sock designers and makers.

Introduction

How to use this book

All about socks

Sock anatomy 

Measuring foot size

Choosing the correct size

Tools and materials

Yarn

• Hand-dyed vs machine-dyed


• Yarn colours


• How to knit matching socks


• Yarn fibres


• Yarn weight/thickness

Needles 

• Needle materials 


• Needle types 

Extras

Checking your tension/gauge

Importance of tension/gauge

Substituting yarn

Swatching

Measuring your tension/gauge

Achieving tension/gauge in a pattern

Sock recipes

Getting started

Cuff-down socks

Toe-up socks

Two-needle socks

Variations on the sock recipes 

• Contrast cuffs, heels and toes 


• Scrappy socks 


• Shortie socks 


• No-heel socks 

Sock elements

Cuffs

• 1 x 1 rib cuff 


• 2 x 2 rib cuff 


• 3 x 1 rib cuff 


• Half-twisted rib cuff 


• Two-colour rib cuff (corrugated rib cuff) 


• Picot edge cuff 

Heels

• Cuff-down heel flap and gusset options 


• Common heel (stocking (stockinette)
  stitch with garter stitch edge) 


• Slipstitch heel 


• Garter stitch heel 


• Striped (two-colour) heel




• Toe-up options


• Simple shaped heel


• Double stitch short row heel (boomerang heel)


• Wrap and turn short row heel


• Toe-up gusset and heel flap




• Forethought heel 



Toes

• Toes for cuff-down socks 


• Classic wedge toe 


• Rounded toe 


• Four-point toe 




• Toes for toe-up socks 


• Basic toe 


• Banded toe 








Sock projects

Sloping Hills by Winwick Mum

Under the Stars by Emma Potter

Twisting Pathways by Vikki Bird

Spring Lace by Rachel Fletcher

Bracken Cables by Olivia Villareal

Summer Meadows by Carmen Jorissen

Autumn Berries by Kaitlin Barthold

Red Sky At Night by Abby Brown

Beads of Dew by Anniken Allis

Winter Snow by Kerstin Balke




Knitting in the round

On double-pointed needles (DPNs)

Joining the round

On a short circular needle

On a long circular needle for magic loop

On flexible short needles

Two at a time magic loop knitting




Sock techniques

Casting on 

• Long-tail cast on (thumb method)  


• German twisted cast on 


• Cable cast on (two-needle cast on)


• Alternating cable cast on


• Judy's magic cast on





Basic stitches 

• Knit stitch 


• Purl stitch 


• Slip stitch 


• K1tbl (knit 1 through the back leg) 





Reading charts 

Increasing 

• Kfb (knit front and back) 


• Yarn over increases (yo) 


• Make 1 stitch (M1L & M1R) 





Decreasing 

• Right-leaning decreases (k2tog, p2tog) 


• Left-leaning decreases (skpo, ssk) 


• Double decreases (cdd, k3tog, sk2po) 





Adding beads 

Picking up stitches 

• Along edge from right side of work 


• Along edge from wrong side of work 


• From waste yarn for forethought heel 





Cables

Short rows 

• Wrap and turn (W&T) short rows 


• Double stitch short rows (German short rows)





Working with more than one yarn/colour

• Holding two yarns together at once


• Changing colours


• Carrying yarn along inside of your work


• Jogless stripes


• Corrugated rib 


• Stranded colourwork and Fair Isle knitting 





Casting (binding) off 

• Knit cast (bind) off (in the round) 


• Knit cast (bind) off (working flat) 


• Three-needle cast (bind) off 


• Jeny's surprisingly stretchy cast (bind) off 





Finishing your project 

• Grafting/Kitchener stitch 


• Mattress stitch


• Weaving in ends 


• Fixing holes 


• Blocking your project








Abbreviations

About the author

Index

Thanks

The designers