2 pairs of Socks - FINISHED!

[starshine123102]

I'm attempting my first pair of socks, and so far I'm doing pretty well. I found a pattern I love on Ravelry, but it's women's sizing and I would like to make them for my fiancee whose a size 13 shoe (US) . Does anyone know how I would take these and adapt them for his yeti sized feet???

[LydiaZ]

I have been knitting socks for years. They are my favorite things to knit! Welcome to the club!
As far as your pattern, maybe all it needs is just a few more stitches and an increase in overall length. Remember socks are supposed to be stretchy so don't go crazy adding too many stitches or inches.
I usually make socks for myself with size 2 needles and 60 stitches. I wear a ladies size 7. I made a pair for my mother in law who wears a size 11 shoe and all I did was increase the stitches to 64 and make the foot an inch or so longer. She says they fit fine.
Hope this helps! Post pics of your finished socks! I would love to see them!

[NeedleAndFork]

Woo hoo, another sock knitter!

Which pattern are you knitting? That would help to determine what needs to be done to upsize it. The simplest way to upsize a pair of socks is to use heavier yarn - this does result in a thicker sock though. I found that taking the average sock pattern that is knit on size 1 needles using fingerweight weight yarn and instead using DK weight yarn and size 3 needles gives me a sock that fits my friend with a size 13 foot. It makes for a nice thick sock to wear inside workboot and turns out to take the same amount of time as knitting a sock for my own size 8 feet does. Of course you adjust for length based on his foot size, but the numbers for the heel and toe stay simple this way.

The more reliable option though is to get measurements of his feet and calculate your gauge and work off that. When using fingering weight yarn, I usually aim for a guage of approximately 8 stitches per inch, measured over a swatch of atleast 4 inches, knitted in the round. So measure your gauge, then measure around his feet and then figure out how many stitches you need to go around - remembering that you need to have negative ease in the sock - how much will depend on how stretchy your pattern is - so that the sock fits on his foot well.

Now you know how many stitches around the sock has to be, you can figure out how the pattern fits into it - you may have to increase or decrease your stitch count by a couple of stitches to make the pattern repeat fit on it. This will give you our final stitch count.

THe heel turn can be tricky to resize until you learn the formula for it. It's all a matter of proportions. Does your pattern have a heel flap or a short row heel? There are sites that have the formula for each that you can plug your numbers into. If you show us which pattern you are making I can find a formula which will match that sock for you so you can plug your numbers in.

Gosh, all this is making me want to cast on a pair! It's been ages since I knit socks, and I used to have 2 - 3 pairs on the go at any given time.

[starshine123102]

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much for that info! I figured that would be how to do it but I wanted to make sure. I've only ever made one practice sock, so it wasn't made to size, just to practice each part, so I am worried about the heel.

Ill pm you a link tomorrow when I'm on my computer and not typing this on my phone in bed with the covers over my head to hide the light!

One other question, I've heard the term but but in the world is negative ease???

[NeedleAndFork]

When making clothing there's 2 kinds of ease - negative and positive. They determine how your clothing fits you. Positive ease is the more common in clothing - it is the amount of extra 'space' that your clothing has above your actual body measurement. So a close fitting item made of non-stretchy fabric such as a tailored blouse might have about 1" of positive ease, meaning that if you measure the blouse and measure yourself, the blouse would be 1" bigger than your actual measurements. If it were the exact same size as you, you wouldn't have room to even breathe, nevermind move in it. Clothing items that are bigger on you - think of sweatshirts and tshirts - have a lot more positive ease - they fit you much looser.

Negative ease is the opposite - it is when the item is smaller than the size it is intended to be worn at. This only works on stretchy fabrics - leggings for example are made with negative ease - you have to take into consideration how much the fabric stretches, and cut the pieces smaller than the intended size accordingly so that when worn it will stretch enough to fit the body but not be so small to cut off circulation. If you made leggings out of stretchy fabric to the exact size of the body, they would likely fall down.

The same applies with socks - you want to knit them a a little bit smaller than the foot that will wear them since knitted fabric is quite stretchy. How much smaller depends on the pattern. Some patterns are very stretchy - ribbing stretches a lot - that's why you see it on the cuffs of sweaters and along the neckline so often. It lets you get a close fit while still stretching to fit the wearer comfortably. It is also used at the cuff of a pair of socks usually to help the sock stay up. You could avoid adding ribbing if you use a stretchy enough pattern has enough negative ease to hold its place on the leg of the wearer. But overall, I usually aim for about 1/2" or so negative ease on my hand knit socks - this gives them room to stretch but still remain comfortable around my foot. This isn't a hard and fast rule though - if doing stranded colorwork for example, ease can become problematic since stranded knitting isn't as stretchy as regular knitted fabric.

The best suggestion I can give you is to just play around a bit - after a while you start to get a good feel for what does and doesn't work.

As for the heel.. don't worry about it! The instructions can sound daunting, but this is one of those cases where until you understand exactly what is going on, just trust the pattern (assuming it is a well tested one from a reliable source) and just let the magic happen. I've turned dozens of heels now in several different styles and I still find them to be a little bit magic when my knitting seems to magically turn a right angle form the direction it was going in. It may be a bit silly, but turning a sock heel always makes me smile. If for no other reason then because it means my sock is at the half way point!

[starshine123102]

I finished Charlie's first sock! other than the heel which ended up being a smidge small, it came out pretty well! Now on to finish the second one so he can use them before it stops being cold!!

[Oriettait]

[starshine123102]

All finished! Overall, I'm extremely happy with them, especially for a first pair.

[karen4bells]

they look awesome!!!

[NeedleAndFork]

All finished! Overall, I'm extremely happy with them, especially for a first pair.

The fit on it looks pretty good!! Did you ever find yarn for a pair for yourself?

I'm about to cast on a pair today. Not sure what pattern yet.. I need to hurry up an decide!

[rcperryls]

Very pretty! Love the color!

Carole

[DahliaDoll]

Nice work! Congratulations on your first pair!

[Mystonique]

Very impressive. They look great.

[Oriettait]

Great work!

[stitch addicted]

Very nice!!

[littleturtlegirl]

They look great and I love the color!

[starshine123102]

The fit on it looks pretty good!! Did you ever find yarn for a pair for yourself?

I'm about to cast on a pair today. Not sure what pattern yet.. I need to hurry up and decide!

I did. I'm doing a two color broken seed stitch pattern. One yarn is a purple, blue and green variegated and the other is white to contrast with it. The cuff, heel and toe will be all white.

Here is what they should look like finished, just in a different color. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library ... itch-socks

[NeedleAndFork]

The fit on it looks pretty good!! Did you ever find yarn for a pair for yourself?

I'm about to cast on a pair today. Not sure what pattern yet.. I need to hurry up and decide!

I did. I'm doing a two color broken seed stitch pattern. One yarn is a purple, blue and green variegated and the other is white to contrast with it. The cuff, heel and toe will be all white.

Here is what they should look like finished, just in a different color. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library ... itch-socks

Oh those are gorgeous! I was going to say at first though when I saw the pic and hadn't read your comments that you were FAST if you already finished another pair!

I could see that sock knit in a gradient yarn that gradually changes colors. In fact I have several skeins of yarn that would be perfect for that and would really pop against a black or even a navy blue which I'm sure I have in my stash. I know I have plenty of white!

[Debbydap1]

I love to knit socks!! Lately it's the only thing I knit. Not very good at it mind you but I still love making them. What I love even more than making them is wearing them!!

[littleturtlegirl]

Thank you for sharing the second pair of socks pattern. Where did you get the pattern for your first pair? I really like them and can't find a pattern that I like. Thank you in advance.