Welcome to the 1st February and the first day of our #februarysockchallenge. However you are choosing to take part please just jump in over on the Ravelry group or in the Everyday Knitter Facebook page and let us know what you are working on.

It turns out that I'm having way too much fun with this daily blogging malarky to stop now so I thought it would be fun to try and blog a short sock related tip every day this month. So if there are any burning questions or things that you've always wondered about now would be a great time to ask.

To start with, this is a simple thing but is often overlooked in our haste to cast on.

Sock tip #1: Use a smaller needle size than you think. Click to tweet.

When it comes to sock fabric it's always best to go for a slightly denser fabric than you would do normally as this will vastly improve the fit and longevity of your socks. After all your hard work and all that pretty yarn no one wants to see holes appearing. Not all sock yarn is created equal and you might find that your standard choice of 2.5mm needles just isn't the right size for some of the finer or more tightly spun sock yarn on the market. If you find that you tend to wear through your socks quickly, or if your loved one is particularly hard on their socks, you might find that switching down a needle size could make all the difference.