Knit Socks - Betsy Lee Mccarthy [6]
THE LONG-TAIL CAST-ON
The socks in this book are made with a long-tail cast-on, a very useful and nicely stretchy cast-on that should be in every sock knitter's bag of tricks. Other castons may be used, too, as long as they do not form rigid edges, such as cable castons do. The key is to keep the cast-on top stretchy. Here's how it's done:
1. Estimate how long to make the tail by wrapping the yarn around the needle one time for each cast-on stitch you need, then adding a few extra inches. Make a slipknot right here, and slide the knot over your knitting needle. Hold that needle in your right hand; hold the tail and the working end of the yarn in your left hand, as shown in Step 1. Insert the needle through the front loop of the working yarn loop on your thumb. Wrap the tail from back to front around the needle.
2. Use the needle to draw the tail through the loop on your thumb.
3. Release the loop on your thumb, place your thumb underneath the working thread, and draw both toward you while holding the working thread and tail firmly in your fingers.
Joining: Trading Places and Getting Ready to Work
After the stitches are divided on the needle(s), the circle needs to be joined one time. Regardless of the type of needle(s) you are using, place the skein so the working yarn will be outside the circle once it is joined. There is a difference in how I trade places of two stitches (the first and the last cast on), depending on the type needle. Methods for double-point and circular needles are described on the following pages.
Stay Loose
Be sure to cast on loosely so that the top is nicely elastic, allowing the foot to fit into the sock, the sock to stay up, and the top edge to fit comfortably around the calf. Practice casting on loosely so that you can do it with the same needle size as used for the rest of the sock. This technique enables you to create uniform stitches along the sock top. If you're still having trouble, here are some tips that will help you stay loose:
• Try holding two needles together and casting the stitches onto both of them. Once the stitches are all cast on, carefully remove one of the needles.
• Cast stitches onto a needle one or two sizes larger than the pattern needles, then slip the cast-on stitches onto the smaller needles before joining and beginning the sock.
• Use a larger needle for the cast-on as above, then after joining, work the first few rows with the slightly larger-sized needles.
• Avoid tightening up your stitches or pulling them too close together. Leaving a little more space between cast-on stitches produces an elastic top band and stitches that can be worked much more easily.
DOUBLE-POINT NEEDLES
With double-point needles, I use the tips of the needles with the first and last cast-on stitches to join stitches. Be careful not to twist the stitches when you join them to knit in the round. If the stitches twist around the needle, you won't get the nice, flat tube you need for a sock, and the flaw will be very apparent after you've knit the first few rows. If this happens, smile, pull out your knitting, cast on again, and charge ahead.
A common way to join for circular knitting on double-point needles is simply to hold the first and last needles closely together and begin to knit clockwise with the empty needle, giving the first few stitches little tugs. But my favorite way is to work a join that connects the stitches into a round by trading the places of the first and last cast-on stitches. I use a variation of this technique for both two circulars and one long circular needle joins.
To join the first and last stitches on three or four double-point needles:
1. Distribute the stitches among the needles as indicated in the pattern,