Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Windowpane socks tutorial, part 4

And here is the final part of the tutorial! The rest of the foot is a pretty standard sock foot if you want to substitute your favourite measurements.

I basically decrease along on the gusset until I've got 60 stitches on the needle, because that's my number for a comfortable sock. Your number might be 64 or even higher, depending on the width of foot that you're trying to fit.

The photos part of this tutorial is for the random mitered squares. Here's one done as an example.


And here's how to do it.
On the front of your sock, knit 6 stitches.
Turn and purl back. Cast on 5 more stitches with an "e" caston.
Knit 11 stitches.
Purl back.
Knit 4, slip 2 stitches together, knit 1, pass two slipped stitches over.
Purl back.
Keep on knitting the mitered square until you have one stitch left on the needle.




Pick up 5 stitches along the side of your square. Slip-Slip-Knit the last stitch you pick up with the first "live" stitch at the bottom row.

Slip the first stitch and then knit all the way around your sock until you get to the other side of the square. Slip the last stitch to your needle, then pick up one stitch on the side of the square. Knit those two stitches together.

Turn your work, slip the first stitch and purl all the way back around until you get to the other side of your mitered square. Purl-two-together the last stitch of your row with the bottom-most stitch on the side of the square.


Keep on working your way by alternately knitting and purling your way until you've knit all around the sock.


Finish on a knit row. Pick up and knit 6 stitches across the top of your mitered square. Continue knitting your sock until you want to do another random mitered square.

To do a mitered square that points the other way, knit until you want to start your square. Then cast on 5 stitches.
Turn your work and purl back 11 stitches. Knit another mitered square.

When you have one stitch on your needle, turn your work and pick up and purl 5 stitches down the side of the square.


As before, knit and purl back and forth around your sock foot, picking up one stitch at the side of the mitered square each round.

Finishing on a knit row, pick up 6 stitches along the top of the square.


Begin your toe shaping about 1.5" from the end of your preferred sock length. (As you'll see above, I've already started my toe shaping, about 3 rows from the end of my square.)

For toe shaping:
Round 1. K1, SSK, knit to last 3 stitches, K2tog, K1 Repeat on other side of foot
Round 2. Knit one round

Repeat until you have 8-12 stitches on your needle, depending on how wide you prefer your toes. Kitchener stitch the stitches together to close the toe of your sock.

And then knit another one!


7 comments:

Bea said...

Cool.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry I can't appreciate the tutorial, as I'm not a sock knitter, but I love your sock yarn -- what pretty colors!

Anonymous said...

Cool idea! Just put them in my Ravelry queue!

Ina said...

Thank you for a fabulous tutorial. I must have a pair of *rainbow* Windowpane Socks!

Anonymous said...

As a voracious sock knitter, these are about the coolest things I've seen in a LONG time!!!

Thanks!

Ro said...

This is so rad! The numer of step-by-step photos and clear instructions is incredibly helpfu. It was very good of you to go to so much trouble. Love it.

Yarn Cat said...

I love the concept of windowpane knitting! I can think of using it on something else other than socks already. Sweaters, cowls, hats, etc. WOW! You can do so much!