Why not let your wife knit the socks, and then you 'darn' the soles before you wear them.
Why not let your wife knit the socks, and then you 'darn' the soles before you wear them.
Is there any way that can be made without knitting or combining a woven fabric and knitting?
My wife is learning how to knit and has made me a pair of very simple socks but they wear out faster than she can knit them. I mend them by weaving the same yarn over the weakened areas but it seems that a bottom made from a woven fabric would last a lot longer.
I gather they are knitted because of the stretch required but are there any other options?
js
Hand-knitted socks shouldn't wear out that fast. Is your wife using a sock yarn? It needs to have some synthetic to make it hard-wearing. Also, it should be knitted at quite a tight gauge, both to make it hard-wearing and so you don't feel the purl bumps under your sole.
Opal or Regia are good brands. They both make self-patterning sock yarn, which produces stripes and Fair Isle-type patterns as you knit plain.
There are lots of free patterns at
You can't make socks out of woven fabric because they need to be stretchy. You can make them out of a knitted fabric, like Polartec, but they're not thin - more like slippers, really.
HTH
Sally Holmes Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England
Get your wife to run a polyester sewing thread along with the yarn as she knits. This is especially good in the heel and toe areas. It is just a little more reinforcement and makes the sock a bit more resistant to wear.
Socks made of Polartec 200 do look more like slippers, but my whole family wears them when the weather's cold...with sneakers, Bean boots, Anywears, cowboy boots, most any kind of shoes. They seem thick, but compress into almost nothing, and are *so* much warmer than regular socks! Made of Polartec 100, they can be worn even with tight shoes. The ones we like best are by the Toasty Toes pattern, from Timber Lane Press.
Doreen in Alabama
What about Powerdri?
"Jack Schmidling"
There are also patterns that are knit so that the toes and heels can be removed and reknit without redoing the entire sock. I imagine you are using the wool from your sheep? If so, knit it held with the poly sewing thread at least in the toe and heel areas.
Go to the library and find "The Encyclopedia of Needlecraft" by Therese de Dillmont. In the section for knitting, you will find a pattern for Italian Stockings. These are specificly knit so that the sole of the stocking can be replaced easily. The book also has instructions for repairing and darning knits. Read carefully, the translation from the french is often a little odd and a little antiquated.
Socks can be reinforced by running a strong thread along with the yarn during the knitting process. If they are going to see _really_ hard wear, you may wish to use a knit stitch darn over the most stressed areas before ever you put them on.
NightMist
Interlocked buttonhole stitch makes a better darn, and is easier to accomplish as well.
I like stranded knitting in the salt-and-pepper pattern in areas that get heavy wear. One does have to be able to knit two different ways, in order to hold one yarn in each hand, if stranded knitting is to be done with ease and dispatch. Another problem -- which doesn't apply to everybody -- is that I get confused when working two ends of the same yarn, so I can use it only when I don't mind speckles.
One can weave a second yarn in behind the stitches, breaking it when one gets to the end of the vulnerable patch, but that gets really old really fast because of all the ends. It's easier to work point d' venise (see photograph referenced above) as soon as you can see which spots are going to get thin. (Mary Thomas's Knitting Book has a good description of weaving in the chapter on "Colour Knitting".)
Whatever needle size she is using, dropping down a needle size will help. I like to knit crew-length socks by beginning with the needle I'd use to knit a sweater from that yarn, working thirty rounds, dropping a needle size, knitting thirty more rounds, dropping another needle size, and working thirty more rounds, for a total of ninety rounds in the leg. (For a thicker yarn, use fewer rounds.) It wouldn't hurt to drop still one more needle size after working the heel flap. I think I'll try that if I ever finish the current stockings -- and if I have enough 1.25 mm needles. (The *sides* of a 1.25 mm needle are sharp!) This will, of course, require more stitches in the foot than in the ankle -- exactly how many can be calculated when I'm about halfway through the gusset.
Joy Beeson
Or over to the shelf . . . I'd seen Dillmont's "stepped heel" before, but never paid any attention to it. I really must get the current pair of socks off my needles!
Elizabeth Zimmermann offers another approach in her "moccasin sock", _Knitter's Almanac_, November.
Joy Beeson
As already suggested, you need to add an additional yarn/thread into the heels and toes. Yarn shops can advice on the best material for this. I have used dental floss! Can't really say whether it was a good idea however.
For all the time it takes to knit socks, use only the best quality yarn, preferrably wool.
I like the stepped heel. IMO it works more easily and wears better than a standard.
I just finished another muffler for one of the daughters, lace insert fig 441, with lace with corner fig 442. Looks very well, and knitting it with worsted and size 8 needles made for a warm and well sized scarf.
Now I have to go back and face the kimono sleeve that has been giving me fits. The left sleeve came out beautifully, the right just does not want to cooperate. I hate when patterns I have done a several times before do that to me. :/ Hopefully the knitting break will have cleared my brain.
NightMist
Dear Jack,
I use a traditional pattern for all of my socks. It calls for the heel flap to be knitted with a slip, knit, across the row, purl the next row, repeat. You end up knitting, slipping more rows to complete the heel, but it comes out thicker than the rest of the sock. The suggestion by many to include a poly thread with the yarn is a great idea--I'm going to try it with my next pair.
Teri
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