I recently discovered hand-knitted socks and thought that they would be so much fun to make. It’s actually pretty easy and I love creating something that I can wear. If you are familiar with knitting and want to give socks a try, I made instructions for using 9-inch circular needles based on Simply In Stitches‘ interpretation of The Unapologetic Knitter’s pattern.
A Little Background
My mom taught me the very basics of knitting (casting on, and a knit stitch) when I was young, but never really did anything with it until about 5 years ago. I decided to give knitting a try again — I bought some circular needles and made a large blanket. It took a lot of yarn and even more time but I finally finished it. I’m really proud of that blanket (we call it “The Oatmeal” because that’s the name of the yarn color I used) and we use it all the time.
That was the extent of my knitting experience until I saw a post of someone’s knitted socks posted on Reddit and I was inspired to try to make my own.
How To Make Hand-Knit Socks
I started researching how to knit socks and, being inexperienced, I kept coming across terms I didn’t know and patterns I didn’t understand. What are DPNs? What does the gauge mean? What’s a gusset? I was running into a lot of questions until I found a tutorial on YouTube. I was really excited because this tutorial walks you through every single step and she uses circular needles which I was already familiar with from knitting The Oatmeal.
Here’s the YouTube playlist that I used from Simply in Stitches:
She adapted a pattern created by Meaghan Schmaltz that uses DPNs (which I found out means Double Pointed Needles) or Magic Loop (another technique using larger circular needles) to be completed on 9-inch circular needles.
I watched the videos, knitting right along, and I made my very first pair of socks! It was really helpful to be able to see each step of the way so I could better understand what was going on. My socks weren’t perfect, but I’m really proud of them. Now, I am starting my second pair of socks and I don’t really want to have to watch the videos all the way through just to get the directions — so I wrote down all the directions specifically for 9-inch circular needles. It’s easier for me to have the directions this way now that I understand the different sections and don’t need to reference the videos every step.
Download the pattern to knit socks on 9-inch circular needles here.
Making My Own Socks Using 9-Inch Circular Needles
To knit your socks, you will need:
- 9-inch circular needles (US Size 1)
- Fingering Weight yarn (400 yards per 100g)
- Two (2) Knitting Markers
- Darning Needle
Knitting these socks was easy, but challenging at the same time. I would say you need to just be an adventurous beginner to be successful in this project. I love the yarn I found for my socks; it’s hand dyed so it creates a really pretty pattern as you knit.
My Progress
Knitting the cuff of the sock was super satisfying. I love creating the ribbing pattern, and having multi-colored yarn kept it fun since a new color would appear as I progressed. On my first sock, it was a little hard to keep track of which stitch I was on, but I soon learned what each looked like and it became easier to follow.
I didn’t want to buy “real” knitting markers because they were kind of expensive for a set and I only needed two, so I improvised and used little rings from my electronic toothbrush brushes. You can use anything ring-like; even an actual ring for your finger. It was helpful to have two that were different colors for me, so I could track where I was in the pattern.
Knitting the leg of the sock was very easy since it was just the knit stitch. I really like that section though because I didn’t have to think too much about what I was doing. I really like the feel of the 9-inch circular needles. They are super smooth and small, and I felt like I was able to knit through this section really fast.
The heel flap is my favorite part of the sock. It was a little weird at first only working on a small section and not the entire round of stitches, but I think this section looks the coolest. With four different rows to keep track of, this pattern looks so pretty and I felt really accomplished that I completed such a “complex” section.
The heel turn was very frustrating for me. I was so lost the first time I knitted this section that I had to rip out some stitches. It messed it up and I had to start completely over with the sock since I didn’t know how to salvage it. I think my directions (download here) are very clear and with this new sock I am making, I didn’t have any issues.
Picking up stitches is a little confusing at first, but watching the video really shows what you need to do. The stitches are pretty tight until you get passed that row.
Working the gusset was another slightly confusing section for me. I was confused about where the row started and what the difference between SSK and K2TOG was. Personally SSK is a lot more difficult that K2TOG and they seemed to do the same thing. I found out later that each stitch causes a different slant in the pattern, so it’s important to do what the pattern asks for.
By the time I got to the foot part, I was ready to speed through and finish the sock. Somehow this section always seemed to take a long time. On my very first sock, I didn’t knit enough and my sock is a little tight on the toes. :/
With the decreases in the toe, it started to get really tight in the round. I actually tried to do Magic Loop like the videos suggest, but I’m not very good with that so I never actually got down to 28 stitches. Instead, I just knit a little extra in the foot part and then just stop the toe decreases at 36 stitches and called it a day.
I love my hand-knit socks and I’m excited to keep knitting more. I think these would be a super thoughtful gift for Valentine’s Day. Here’s a link to the directions again. ♡
