Help with Knitting Socks that Fit

It’s rare that I write about a knitting book before I’ve read it or even seen it, but I’m super excited about Kate Atherley’s new book, Custom Socks: Knits to Fit Your Feet.

The book, as you can imagine, is all about figuring out the size of sock you actually need to knit and ways to get a better fit in your sock.

This post from Knitting Daily has a great overview of some of the basics, such as the notion that socks need to be 10 percent smaller than the actual foot measurement. It talks about where and how to measure your foot and what to do when sizes are given as a foot circumference, a shoe size, foot length, in sizes like small, medium and large or when there is only one size given.

Because of the 10 percent rule and my slightly smaller than average feet I often need to cast on fewer stitches than a pattern calls for, and then I wonder how to deal with that as a designer, so I’m really looking forward to reading this book and will be sure to let you know when I have. But for now this article is a great reference.

Do you have problems with sock fit? I’d love to hear about it.

[Photo via Knitting Daily.]

Looking for more knitted socks designs and patterns to keep you warm this winter? Check out these knitted sock patterns Etsy. And these Knitting Pattern books on Amazon.

Looking to buy your Yarn online? Check out these online yarn specials.

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

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