First of all, let me tell you a (very short I promise) story. When I was little, my Mum tried to teach me to knit. It was a disaster. The end.

Fast forward to last year. I lost my lovely Mum a year ago yesterday and when it happened, I promised myself that I would take up one of her hobbies in memory of her. Knitting for some reason seemed right so I spoke to Clover tools in Japan and they agreed to sponsor my journey.

I am so glad that they did too because it turns out that where I went wrong as a child was largely down to my Mum’s very slippery metal knitting needles. Turns out that my knitting was slipping everywhere and my response to this was to knit so tightly that at one point, my grandfather had to cut my knitting off the needles with his pocket knife. I was nine years old. At this point I went back to playing with my Lego.

One of my big knitting dreams was to knit a sock that a human being could wear in public. And I was determined to simplify it for raw beginners. The pattern had to be good for just about any wool and had to fit YOUR feet. Not mine and not my husband’s. There had to be no ridges across the toe and no lumps and bumps in the heel. And no gaps on the side of the heel either. No siree, It had to be the ultimate sock.

And so the Sockstar was born. It fits, it is easy to knit, and there are no ugly bits which make wearing it a chore. I am gradually knitting these for my husband and I in quantity so that we can wear exclusively hand knitted socks. It is a snob thing I am sure and I cannot help feeling a little bit smug. Home knitted socks feel so organic. So REAL.

The other thing that I wanted from my ultimate sock was versatility. I wanted to be able to knit them in a couple of weights of yarn for different applications. Above all, I wanted the pattern to be adaptable to fit any yarn that you had left over- on Rob’s grey socks I ran out of the grey yarn so I just made the heels from ‘similar weight’ green wool. It worked great!

The Aran and DK socks make great bed socks and they are just lush to wear around the house. The DK ones suit our hiking boots too. The ‘proper sock yarn’ ones are great for everything else. My hubby loathes thin socks so he is a DK man. You get to choose.

So what is needed to make a pair of toe up, afterthought heel socks?

• yarn. Well natch and try to use natural fibre if you can. Wool is easy to begin with and some mistakes will even block out. You can choose Aran or DK (double knit) yarn or sock wool and I have some hints on sizing for all of these. I have used (about) a 50g (1.8oz) ball for the toe, heel and cuff and a (about) 100g for the sock body. You will have some left over as a rule but you can always make the leg part longer. If you like longer socks, you may need more so 100g balls are my favourite. Leftover yarn can be used for the heel and toes of the next pair.
• needles. I am using Clover Takumi bamboo DPNs (double pointed needles) and for the Aran yarn I use 5.00mm (US 9), DK yarn, I use 4.0mm – 5.0mm (US 6 – 8)) and for the sock yarn I prefer 3.0mm (US 2 1/2). The yarn band will give you this information though. You also need a set of needles one size smaller than the ones that you have used to knit with if you decide that you want a heel in the sock. I only use three needles to knit my socks but if you have a different method, that is okay too.
• large darning needle for the Kitchener Stitch heel join
• your usual knitting tools.

I very strongly advise beginners to read through all of the instructions before beginning. Just in case you need some extra help, I have made two more focus tutes for you. One on how I size the toe section and you can find that here. The other is a focus on the heel and that one is right here. Okay, make yourself a cup of something warm and let’s get started!

Sizing is important for fit and the great thing about the Sockstar is that the sizing all takes place on the toe section. After that, the body of the sock follows and takes care of itself. It is a simple thing to do too. I have sized this on my foot which measures 4″ across the widest part of the toes. To make the sock fit you, all you need to do is to add or subtract the increase rows. You will find more detail in the sock toe section tute.

So once the toe is out of the way, your size is established and the easy bit starts which will make you feel like a genuine Sockstar – knit a tube which is about 16″-18″ long (you can make it longer or shorter if you prefer- to make it shorter, stop knitting and to make it longer, keep knitting)

Change back to the toe colour (if you like) and knit a two by two rib about 1-2″ long. Actually in the photo above, I have knitted the rib in the main sock body yarn which looks fab too. As you can see, you can make this sock your own quite easily. Cast off with a super stretchy bind off.

Now we have a tube sock and to be honest, you can leave it there. Tube socks are a Thing and they fit quite nicely. When I was learning, I did leave it there and was super happy with my achievement. But then a little voice inside my head informed me that I was cheating. This sock wasn’t finished.

So I learned how to make an Afterthought Heel to put in. There are a couple of ways of doing this and, rather than spending time reinventing the wheel here, a YouTube search will help you to find it if you need to see the technique differently. I am going to show you the no waste yarn method because it is easier (IMHO). You can find my tute here.

Sockstar Knitting Pattern

Firstly some notes….

Remember to get the toe to fit your foot as described in the toe tute. And the amount of stitches that you finish the heel with will depend on how many you knit the body of the sock with. For example, a larger foot will have more stitches and you may not be able to decrease to exactly 10 stitches. But 12 or 8 stitches will also work.

The increase stitches in the brackets are a GUIDE ONLY and they fit my foot which is 10″ long and 3 1/2″ across the widest part of the toe. But it is a starting point for you too and you can add or subtract increases.

Thicker yarn like Aran and DK may need less increases than stated here and sock wool more depending on the size of your foot or if it is for a man, woman or child. You will have noticed when you look at the different yarns, they can be in the same category but look different. Some DK is as thick as Aran and some is almost as thin as sock yarn. Work with your individual yarn. This also has the benefit that you can go through your stash and use the yarn that you have already. I am all about that!

A final note about yarn which I feel is important is that most knitting patterns use a particular brand and type of yarn so the instructions are just for that yarn. What I have tried to do here is to give you a pattern where you can use any yarn that you happen to have. This means that these socks are actually great stash busters. The teensy drawback is that some instructions ask you to fit the sock on and sort out the needs for that yarn that you happen to be using. This is a really small price to pay for turning a pile of wooly bits and pieces into useful socks.

You can use whichever make 1 (m1) that you like.

Above all, this is not how socks are necessarily always knitted, it is how I knit them. Works though and it is really easy.

Aran and Double Knit Yarn

From the toe up:

CO 20 stitches and divide between 2 DPNs and join in the round

Row 1: knit

Row 2: k1, m1, k until last stitch, m1, k1 (24 stitches)

Row 3. knit

Row 4: as row 2 (28 stitches)

Row 5: knit

Row 6: as row 2 (32 stitches)

Row 7: knit

Row 8: as row 2 (36 stitches)

Row 9: knit

Row 10: as row 2 (40 stitches)

Fit them on here and see if you need an extra increase row. If not….

Rows 11-13: knit. Break yarn and change colour (optional).

Knit in the round until the sock is about 16″ -18″ long then change colour and finish with a 2×2 rib of 1-2″ long. Super stretchy bind off.

To insert the heel: Measure your foot and subtract ‘about’ 2″. See this post for more thoughts about this. Pick up stitches for an Afterthought Heel without waste yarn and then

Row 1-4 Heel (worked over half the total stitches) : knit

TIP: these set up rows help to determine the depth of the heel and the finer the wool, the more set up rows that are needed. With Aran and DK, 4 rows works nicely but for ‘proper’ sock yarn, it can be up to 8 depending on the foot. I like to measure and then take notes for the sort of yarn that you are using. Each yarn has its own personality.

Row 5: k1, dec (ssk) k until last 3 stitches remain, dec (k2tog), k1

Row 6: knit

Repeat rows 5 and 6 until about 10 stitches remain and bind off with Kitchener Stitch (that is all in the heel tute too). Weave in the ends.

Sock Weight Yarn

Toe

CO 20 and divide between 2 DPNs, join in the round

Row 1: knit

Row 2: k1, m1, k until the last stitch, m1, k1

Rows 3-14: repeat rows 1 and 2 (‘about’ 48 stitches)

TIP: sock yarn may need an extra increase for you. Fit the toe on (see the toe tute) and then make a note on the ball band for the next sock.

Knit body of sock and cuff, super stretchy bind off

Heel (worked over half the total stitches)

Row 1-8*: knit

*remember that with thinner wool, you often need more of the initial set up rows to help with the depth of the heel.

Row 9: k1, dec (ssk), k until 3 stitches remain, dec (k2tog), k1

Row 10: knit

Repeat rows 9 and 10 until about 10 stitches remain and then bind off with Kitchener stitch. Weave in the ends.

Thank you so much for staying with me on this! I promise you that it will be worth it when you are holding your first pair of home knitted socks. The beauty of this pattern is that, although it might not be conventional to some old troopers, this pattern works and it works for you in particular.

One final hint before I leave you to get on with your knitting, The toe is the bit where you have to concentrate (until the heel that is) and I like to knit two toes and then transfer one of them onto these nifty stitch holders by Clover

This only really works if you are changing colour in the toe (not much point otherwise). Leave yourself a generous tail when you break the yarn so that it is easy to weave in the ends. The great thing about it is that you have two socks started and you can knit the zone-out bit in front of the TV.

See you next time!

Hugs

Debbie xx