Friday, March 07, 2008

How to put a folded hem on toe up socks


I like toe up socks for many reasons. I also have recently become enamored of folded hems at the cuff of my socks. Difficult to do from the toe up. Either my bind off/sew off is too tight, or too loose. Anyhow, I figured out how to do it. Be warned, there is grafting involved. I have included photos, please excuse their quality.

You will need one sock in progress, and extra set of circular needles in the size you are using.

First work you sock from the toe up as you please. When you are ready to knit the cuff, knit the front and back of each stitch.


Then you drop the working yarn, and get an extra needle. Slip the stitches for the first half of the sock as follows: stitches knit on the front leg of the stitch on one needle, stitches knit on the back leg of the stitch on the other. This will place the stitches for the front half of the sock on two needles.


Repeat this process for the back half of the sock. You now have four circular needles on your sock, two on the 'inside' and two on the 'outside'. Ignore the inside needles for now. They will be used later, but for right now are just holding the stitches.


Using on the the 'outside' needles, knit your hem.
For a flat folded hem:
knit 4 rows
purl one row (turning row)
knit 3 rows.
For a picot edge hem:
knit 4 rows
(yo, k2tog) to the end of the round
knit 3 rows

See the 'inside needles sticking out? This is correct.




Turn you sock inside out. You will now graft the 'inside' stitches to the 'outside' stitches. A great grafting tutorial is here. Use the last stitches from the back half of the sock to start your grafting. Graft the front half of the sock. Move the last stitch from each needle to the back half of the sock, and continue grafting.










When your reach the end, secure your ends and turn the sock right side out.












Enjoy! Please let me know if you have any problems with this pattern.