Knitting Christmas socks

Christmas socks are one of those projects where I promise myself every year that I'll start in time. And every year, I end up sitting there in December with knitting needles and wool, and of course, I'm not finished.

To help you manage better than I do this year, the instructions this time are provided entirely as video tutorials, all collected in the "Christmas Socks" YouTube playlist. To help you visualize the process, I’ll walk you through everything step-by-step using size 36 (my little feet unfortunately don't grow any bigger).

And the great thing is, you can knit these socks the classic way from cuff to toe or as toe-up. You can find the instructions for toe-up socks HERE.

What materials do you need for the Christmas socks?

• West Yorkshire Spinners Signature sock yarn 1208 Yuletide Sparkle (Affiliate link/advertising)
• Set of 2.5mm double-pointed needles
• Darning needle for weaving in ends
• Scissors

Knitting Christmas socks in 6 steps:

• Italian cast-on
• 2x2 ribbing
• Pattern on the shaft
• Reinforced heart heel
• Stockinette stitch foot
• Reinforced band toe

 

The cast-on and the cuff

For size 36, I cast on a total of 56 stitches (14 per needle) using the Italian cast-on. The Italian cast-on is actually a bit fiddly at first, but it creates a beautiful, elastic edge, which is important when putting on the socks.

Then, 19 rounds are knitted for the cuff:

• 15 rounds of p2, k2
• 1 round of knit
• 2 rounds of purl
• 1 round of knit

But how do you transition from 1p, 1k to 2p, 2k...? And you want the transition to look good, too... I'll show you how in the following video:

 

Shaft pattern for your socks

The shaft pattern is always the most exciting part of a sock, at least for me... It's a tiny cable pattern using only two stitches and just two rounds. You don't need a cable needle or other tools to knit these little cables. It works just fine without them, which is why even clever beginners (as we say up here in the north) can manage it easily.

I'll show you exactly how it works in the video.

 

The reinforced heart heel

I'll show you exactly how to knit the reinforced heart heel in the next video. A classic heart heel is a heel construction made of short rows, where the heel is shaped like a small cap around the foot, becoming wider as you go. Personally, aside from the classic heel flap and gusset, it's my favorite. "Reinforced" means that this sensitive area on the heel becomes much thicker by knitting the stitches, making this high-wear area last longer.

Much more important than the stitch counts I use for size 36 is that the heel actually fits your foot in the end. Only very few people have such small and narrow feet as I do. My sock planner will help you with that. You can enter many different measurements here and get a better feel for the different needs of feet. Unfortunately, classic sock tables only ever calculate average values, which simply don't fit in most cases. With the measurements in your sock planner, you can calculate if, for example, you need a few more stitches on the cuff but many fewer on the foot itself, or vice versa. You should still experiment a little, as everyone knits slightly differently, but it gives you a much better starting point than pure guessing. You can find a lot more information about this HERE.

 

The foot

After all the fiddling with the cast-on, cuff, cable pattern, and heel, now comes the part where your head can take a break: the foot is simply continued in stockinette stitch without you needing to count anything at all. That is exactly why there is no separate video for this. Anyone who has made it this far can knit stockinette. As a little special, you can also continue the pattern on the top of the foot.

How long the foot section ends up being depends entirely on you: it's best to measure directly on your own foot regularly until the length is right, before continuing towards the toe. A sock like this simply cannot be knitted according to a standard template – every foot is different, and that is precisely why a bit of patience with measuring as you go is more valuable than any table.

 

The toe

Finally, things get exciting again with the reinforced band toe, which is basically nothing other than a normal band toe, just reinforced. After all that effort, it would be a shame if the toe were the first part to wear through. That is exactly why it is knitted a bit thicker here as well, so that the sock lasts a long time at this point too.

And as soon as the toe is sewn shut, your Christmas sock is finished. At least the first one. We all know too well what happens to the second one... It then lies in your basket with a lonely needle until Easter, waiting patiently for you to remember it. If you recognize this, then you suffer, like many other knitters, from Second Sock Syndrome. I have compiled all the vital facts about this in a humorous blog post.

>>> to the blog post >>>

I hope that after reading this post, you'll have good luck with your second socks as well.