How to make your handknit socks last longer

A pair of handknit socks knit in yarn from The Yarny Octopus

A lot of time and effort goes into knitting a pair of handknit socks. By my conservative estimate I normally reckon on around 8 hours per sock, if it’s a plain vanilla sock with a short row heel. Larger socks for the men in my life or anything requiring a pattern or cable can be upwards of 10hrs - a total of 20hrs for a pair.

Whatever way you look at it - that’s a lot of time invested in two small woolly object. So naturally it makes sense to want them to last as long as possible, no one wants to have sock holes to deal with.

Socks in general have a hard life, unless you are knitting cashmere bed socks. Stuffed into boots and shoes, subject to a lot of friction, it’s no surprise that they can suffer from wear and tear. But there are a few simple things we can do to help them last longer.

1. Choose a choose wool/nylon mix. Ideally 80% wool/20% nylon or 75/25. Yes, I know that you can knit long lasting socks with just 100% wool but in my experience a little bit of nylon really does help.

2. Choose a yarn with multiple plies firmly twisted around each other.. Some brands sell a high twist yarn which is perfect for fabrics which will get a lot of friction and rubbing. Avoid anything that pills as this will inevitably lead to thinner areas developing on the sock - and holes forming.

3. Avoid putting handknit socks in the tumble dryer. The excess heat can damage the fibres and reduce the amount of stretch in the yarn.

4. Go down a needle size. The ideal sock fabric should be firm with no gaps between the stitches. I noticed an immediate difference in my socks longevity when I went down from a 2.5mm needle to a 2.25mm needle. The fabric is firmer, more even and definitely longer lasting.

5. For someone who is very hard on their socks consider adding in a re-inforcement thread at heels and/or toes. You can buy commercial thread for this purpose or you can add in a strand of thin mohair or silk. Both will have the advantage of adding strength and durability to any vulnerable areas and hopefully increasing the socks lifespan.

PIN FOR LATER

Three tips for speedy socks

A stripy sock in yarn from The Yarny Octopus

It’s no secret that I love knitting stripy socks. Give me a self stripe yarn and my book or a Netflix series and I’m definitely in my happy place. For socks such as this there is no rush, I’m happy just to proceed at my own pace and let the socks be finished when they are ready.

But, let’s face it time and birthdays wait for no man. So there are times when deadlines press and a pair of socks need to be done, with ends woven in and everything.

So here are my top 3 tips for speedier sock knitting:

1. Sharp tips. These needle tips are Hiya Hiya sharp interchangeables and I love ‘em, especially if there are any cables or twisted stitches to be knit.

2. Magic loop. Being able to scoot staright across 32 or 36 stitches in one swoop without having to stop and readjust definitely saves me time. Yes, there is a little cable wrangling at the midway point but I find I can get up quite a head of steam as I work my way across each needle tip.

3. Continental knitting. Keeping the yarn as close as possible to the left needle tip and wrapping it tight around my tensioning finger helps me to keep excess movement to a minimum. This keeps each movement efficient and reduces the potential for RSI.

What’s your best tip for speedy sock knitting? I know some people swear by DPNs for speed but for me I always seem to get in a tangle.

Feel Better socks

Most of my sock designs are written with magic loop in mind - such as these colourful, slightly cabled Feel Better Socks. Tap the button below to see the full range of sock patterns I have for sale.

Winter Footstep Socks

Winter Footstep Socks

This isn’t quite how I planned my triumphant return to blogging after something of a hiatus.

I had a lovely post all planned out celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Winter Footstep Socks, my oldest design and the first one that I ever listed for sale.

It was a fabulous piece, all about 10th birthdays and how far we’ve come.

Then I checked my notes and realised that the design is actually 11 years old - not 10. Ooops!

At the tail end of this year I decided that I would reknit these socks in a contemporary yarn - the original socks have long since vanished (I have no recollection of where to) and I fancied a new pair of socks for me.

I had some gorgeous sock yarn from Dystopic Fibre in his fabulous Teal Woodcap colourway which I knew would make for a perfect winter sock, and I’d forgotten how addictive and how quick this lace pattern is to knit up.

A lot has happened in 10 (11) years and my life looked very different in January 2013 when these socks were released. On the one hand it feels as though it has passed in the blink of an eye, but on the other hand so much has happened that when I sat down to write it, it honestly felt a little overwhelming.

So I’m going to save you the emotional part and just wish my Winter Footstep socks a happy 11th birthday. There’s a link below in case you’d like to knit a pair of your very own.

Not So Vanilla Socks

Not So Vanilla Socks: cuff down and knit in a gradient yarn from Gusto Wool (Urth Yarns)

Sometimes you need some plain vanilla socks, sometimes you just need something a little bit more. When I came across this lovely gradient yarn from Gusto Wool (kindly gifted to me by Urth Yarns) I knew that I wanted to knit something quite simple, that would let the lovely yarn take centre stage.

This yarn - Echoes by Gusto Wool comes in 2 x 50g matched gradient skeins - making it perfect for a project such as this. And the pattern is a simple, two-round repeat which is easy to memorise.

This is a cuff down sock, knit with a slightly longer leg than usual - all the better to show off that gradual colour change. Paired with a traditional heel flap and a rounded toe this is a perfect sock for either gifting or for yourself - ideal for travel projects.

Although I’ve used a gradient yarn here this would work equally well with mini skeins - try the clasped weft join to avoid dealing with ends. Or it would look fab with a self stripe yarn too. In fact my next pair might be just that.

The Slipstream Socks

Slipstream Socks - link to purchase

These toe-up socks were originally published as the Socially Distant Socks two years ago, at the height of the Covid epidemic when no social gathering was complete without the words ‘socially distanced of course’.

Times have moved on and although I loved the socks, I didn’t like the name and the reminder of some very difficult times. I was also unhappy with a little aspect of the stitch design so I took the opportunity to re-work them and also rename them at the same time.

They are now the Slipstream Socks - because with these regular stitches they really do slip quickly off the needles, and the regular smooth ridges really reminded me of the patterns that water makes as it smoothly slides around obstacles in it’s way.

The yarn is the beautiful Eden Cottage Yarns Brimham 4ply in the Pumpkin Seeds colourway

5 good reasons to knit socks

There are way more than 5 - obviously - but I was in need of a catchy title.

1. People will think you are really clever. I’m not sure why this is but a lot of people attribute sock knitting to the ‘really hard’ category. No word of a lie, I once had a real-life, actual brain surgeon tell me that she could never knit socks as they were ‘too complicated’. She spent her days doing the most mind-boggling surgical feats with people’s brains for heavens sake. Yet she thought my plain vanilla sock was too hard.

2. Turning a heel is as close as you can get to magic without a wand. The point I made above, notwithstanding there is something a little bit magical about turning a heel. It was always my favourite part of teaching a sock knitting class. The part where you knit backwards and forwards for a bit and suddenly manage to bend your sock tube through 90 degrees. It still delights me even now.

3. You get to knit with all the cool yarn. It’s a well known fact that sock yarn doesn’t count towards your stash. And you can always pick up a 100g/400m skein on impulse at a yarn festival and know, with certainty that you can knit a pair of socks out of it.

4. You’ll always have warm feet - I haven’t worn a pair of commercial socks in years and my feet are eternally grateful.

5. You’ll never fear having to take your shoes off in airports again. My husband travels a lot for work (always in handknit socks) and he’s lost count of the number of times total strangers have approached him in airports or on planes asking where he bought his socks from. Cue the smug ‘spouse of knitter’ expression as he explains that they are unique and not available anywhere else.

As I said above, I could keep going but there are the first 5 that spring to mind. In short sock knitting is just my favourite thing to do (apart from drinking coffee and cuddling my cats). And if you don’t currently knit socks I hope this has inspired you to give them a go.

If you are looking for something to get you started, head to my free patterns page and there you’ll find a free download for both a cuff down sock pattern and a toe-up one as well.

Happy sock knitting