Knitting needle sizes: 1-3 The sock sneaks up on all us knitters at some point. Most socks are knit using a size 1 or 2 needle, but you can also find sock patterns that are designed for heavier non-sock yarns. In addition to socks, you can knit up beautiful shawls using sock-weight yarn and these small needles.
In this post
What needles to use for socks?
The most common size needles for a 4 ply traditional sock are 2.25mm and 2.5mm.
How long should sock needles be?
The perfect needle length for sock knitting
Some knitters claim to have found the Goldilocks of knitting needles in the often raved-about 9” circular knitting needle. Users of this technique praise the compact nature of the project and rejoice over not switching needles two to four times per round.
What is the best length circular needles for socks?
22 or 30cm (8½ or 12in) are best for small tubes such as socks, mittens or cuffs. It is worth considering however, that very short circular needles will also have shorter than usual needle points which you may not find comfortable to knit with depending on the size of your hands.
How long do you use DPNS for socks?
If you’re knitting something with a small circumference, like a pair of socks, then a length of five or six inches will suffice. But if you’re knitting a hat, then eight or ten inch needles will be more comfortable. The most popular DPN lengths fall between five and eight inches.
How many stitches should I cast on for a sock?
If you knit from the top-down, as a rule of thumb, you’ll need to cast on around 14 or 15 stitches per needle (56 or 60 stitches total) if you have a regular woman’s size and 16 or 17 stitches per needle (64 or 68 stitches total) for a regular men’s size.
What can I knit with 16 inch circular needles?
For projects that are a little large for double-pointed needles, 16-inch cords are ideal especially for in the round knitting.
Sample projects you can do with this cord length are the following:
- Hats for kids or grown-ups.
- Booties and sweaters for babies.
- Sleeves and Collars of adult sweaters.
- Brims of hats.
Can you use circular needles for socks?
Have you tried knitting socks on two circular needles? Yes, it’s possible! And it may be easier for you if you have trouble working with double-pointed needles (dpns). It’s also an excellent skill to have in your back pocket when you really want to make that sock pattern, but the dpns are busy with another project.
Is it easier to knit socks with circular needles?
It’s also easier to toss a sock in my purse and go if it’s on tiny circular needles compared to double-pointed needles.
How many stitches fit on a 16 inch circular needle?
So, if the recommended gauge for your project is 4 stitches per inch, and you need to knit 80 stitches in the round, you’ll be better off using the 16″ circular needle. The 24″ won’t work well, because for that length, you need at least 96 stitches.
What if my circular needles are too short?
If your circular needle length is too short, your stitches will be crowded. Crowded stitches are more difficult to manuever – and it’s a bit harder to catch mistakes. Check out the video and photos below for more detail about choosing the right circular needles for your knitting project.
How many DPNS should I use?
Double pointed needles come in a pack of five, but the knitting tradition in America is to usually use only four at a time. Three needles hold the stitches while a fourth knits them. Sometimes you do use all five, four to hold the stitches and the fifth to knit.
Is it hard to knit socks?
Knitting socks is very straightforward, making them great projects for travel, or knitting at the game or while waiting for the kids to finish their sports practice. As long as you’ve got the right number of stitches and pay attention to the instructions, it will all work out.
What’s the easiest thing to knit?
We’re sure you’ll love most of these, so let’s get started!
- Basic Garter Stitch Scarf.
- Cuddly Knit Cap.
- Bow Headbands Knitting.
- Tassel Pillow Cover.
- Beginners Foldover Beanie Hat.
- Easiest Toddler Slippers.
- Kate Spade Inspired Hat Patterns.
- Chunky Knitted Pillowcase.
How much yarn do I need for a pair of socks?
The rule of thumb is that for an average pair of adult socks you need 100g of sock weight (fingering weight yarn). If you use thicker yarn, make large men’s socks, or use a stitch pattern that eats more yarn you might need more.
What are vanilla socks?
“a simple pair of hand knit socks that follow a basic recipe personalised to fit the knitters foot” — a definition of vanilla socks. I must admit- I just made up this definition of vanilla socks.
How tight should knitted socks be?
Socks should be worn with a little bit of negative ease—that is, they should be smaller than the foot (and leg) they’re to cover. You want the sock to have to stretch a bit so that it will stay up on your leg and stay in place on your foot.
What is the best cast on for knitting socks?
Cuff-down cast-ons
Cuff-down is the most popular way to knit socks. The cast-ons for this method are endless since you can cast on just like you would for any other project.
How do you size a sock for knitting?
You should choose a size that is 10% smaller than your foot or ankle circumference. Adult socks – should have 1″ / 2.5 cm negative ease in the foot and calf circumference & 0.5″ / 1.5 cm shorter than the foot length.
Does it matter if my circular needles are too long?
If the size of your loop is too small for your circular needles, you won’t be able to knit comfortably, and your stitches will be quite stretched out. If you have a small loop, for example, when knitting socks and mittens, we recommend using the magic loop method using 32” or longer circular needles.
How do you know what size knitting needle to use?
A simple guideline: Add the measurements (in millimeters) of the suggested needle size for each yarn and then use the needle that is closest in size to that number. For example, for a swatch of two strands of Wool-Ease Chunky, we added 6.5 mm plus 6.5 mm to get 13 mm. The closest needle size is 12 mm, which is a US 17.