What is the best way to knit socks: Cuff down or toe-up

Smackerel socks - available in both toe-up and cuff down

So which is the best way to knit socks - cuff down or toe-up. As with most things in life, as well as in knitting, the answer is: It depends.

It depends on what you want to achieve, who you are knitting for and the style of sock that you are knitting also comes into play. Both ways of knitting socks have their pros and cons.

Cuff down socks: These are often suggested as the way to start your sock knitting journey for a variety of reasons but it does mean that you have to navigate the twisty cuff and couple of inches of ribbing first before you can settle into the good plain knitting section of the leg. To avoid the dreaded instruction ‘join to knit in the round, being careful not to twist’, I have a handy tip for that.

That being said, it is very easy to estimate the leg length when you are working this way and it works for a variety of heel types. Once past the heel you can pull the sock on as needed to check the foot length and decide where to start the toe decreases. An obvious disadvantage for some is the need to graft the toe closed (not everyone’s favourite procedure) although you can get around this by knitting a rounded toe (for example).

Gift knitting - if knitting socks for others I tend to opt for cuff down purely because it’s a little bit easier to get a reliable length for the foot. There are standard foot length charts available and that tell you exactly when to start decreasing for the toe. When working toe-up there is always the slight element of chance - depending on the kind of heel you are working.

Toe-up socks: It’s often said that it’s easier to try on socks that are knitted toe-up although I have to say that I’ve never had any particular issues trying on socks whichever direction they are knitted in. Toe-up socks certainly offer a faster start and there are very few things as satisfying in my knitted life as sitting down with fresh needles and yarn, and 30 minutes later having a fully functional sock toe and several inches of happy plain knitting ahead of me.

For this reason I often start a sock toe-up as it lends itself well to travel knitting and other times when you want to knit on the go. I’ve even started a toe-up sock in the cinema before now - although I wouldn’t recommend it. I’ve been known to have a sock toe, on the needles stashed around the house in case I need to grab a quick, travel friendly project in a hurry. You never know when you might need it and there’s no harm in being prepared…right?

There is sometimes concern over when to start the heel for toe-up socks and a common mistake that people make is to have the foot too big - ie starting the heel turn too late. When deciding where to start the heel it’s always best to bear in mind that socks need a little negative ease for a good fit and so slightly stretching the sock (whether on a sock ruler on your foot) is needed to make sure that you get that all important negative ease. My advice is always to slightly stretch the foot, and then stretch it a tiny bit more. It’s very unscientific I grant you but it works for me. THIS blog post has some tips that can help.

Working toe-up, of course means that there is no tricksy grafting and once you’ve worked the leg it’s just a bit of ribbing and you’re done. As long as you make sure not to cast off too tightly then you should have a perfectly lovely sock, ready to wear.

At the end of the day, it’s horses for courses. Some people will swear by one direction rather than another but it’s what you are happy with that counts. It’s always best to be able to work both ways - just in case as these skills are never lost. And in most cases, even if you are a devoted cuff down knitter and you inadvertently buy a toe-up pattern, it’s possible to convert a sock design to your preferred method. There are only a few directional patterns that in all honesty will only work one way.

So which are you - cuff down or toe-up? Or are you happy to knit in each direction - a sock ambivert perhaps?

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Can a beginner knit socks?

A pair of scrappy socks knitted toe-up

Short answer: Yes, absolutely.

Longer answer: Yes, of course they can. An adventurous beginner can tackle pretty much anything. They will only think it’s hard if you tell them that it’s hard.

I wrote a blog post a while ago called ‘Death by Scarf’ and it never fails to generate comments. So often the received wisdom for a new knitter is that they should start with a ‘nice long garter stitch scarf’, which has always been baffling to me. Why, for heavens sake would you want to beat the enthusiasm out of a new knitter so comprehensively?

Why not start them with a fun hat, knit in the round with some pretty yarn. They might need a bit of help with the cast on, but let’s face it, you’ll often need to help them with that anyway, but once that’s done they can zoom around with gleeful abandon until a short while later they learn a decrease and have their first triumphant finished object.

And socks are just the same. At their simplest you can just have them knit a tube sock with no shaping and a rounded toe (with no grafting). My BOB socks have a rounded toe like this (and a short row heel) and are really popular with beginner knitters who want to start knitting socks.

But honestly, there is no reason why a new knitter can’t learn to knit socks. The advice for them remains the same as it does for someone who has been knitting blankets and garments for years but has never knit socks. Let’s bear in mind that some people stick with flat knitting for all of their adult lives and never venture into knitting in the round at all. Years of experience does not necessarily equate to the ability to knit a sock.

Be patient, take it one step at a time and (unlike with other patterns) don’t read ahead. Socks are different - you are manipulating a fabric through 90 degrees and reading ahead about the heel turn won’t make sense until you get there. So just stick to the line ahead of you and take it slowly.

In no time, you’ll have a finished sock on your hands and a real sense of accomplishment. And if not? Well, you are back where you started with yarn and needles except that this time you have more experience and learned something which you can apply to your next attempt. Your first sock is unlikely to be perfect, but that’s fine. It’s a learning process and soon you’ll be cranking out handknit socks with the best of them.

Resources for new sock knitters

My free sock patterns: The basic one is cuff down and the Have Fun socks are toe-up

Silvers Sock Class

Winwick Mum Sockalong Facebook Group & Book

Socks knit flat on two needles - if the idea of knitting in the round does not appeal. Hanna of Germander Cottage Crafts does a fabulous tutorial for socks on two needles.

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Why are we here?

A slightly more existential question than you usually find on a knitting blog, so please bear with.

The thoughts behind this blog post arose from a chance conversation on Instagram with @ofsimplicity, who was asking a simple question of her Instagram followers - “Why are you here?” And some of the responses were just so moving it prompted me to think a little bit more deeply about Instagram and how perhaps our use of the platform has changed over the years.

I joined Instagram years ago, back in the day when it was all about the filters, vignettes and fancy borders. Your feed was chronological and you could happily scroll through in a morning looking at what everyone else in your time zone was up to.

A far cry from the heavily curated feed we see today. Filters are still very much there (although much more subtle) but still images have been crowded out by video/Reels and a lot more content competing for attention. It feels like a much noisier place than it did, ‘back in the day’.

However, I’m still there.

For me (and I suspect, many others) Instagram isn't just a platform and I have way more invested in it, emotionally than I do with maybe Twitter or Facebook. Twitter is a fun place to hang out for a bit but, to be honest I often go there to have a moan about something - and being around lots of other people also venting in a similar manner can deplete my energy reserves pretty quickly.

In contrast, Instagram is home to some wonderful supportive friendships. People that I have connected with there and remain good ‘insta pals’ to this day. Human connection is ultimately why we use the app, and why, Reels notwithstanding, I don’t think that Instagram is going anywhere although the way we use it might change a little.

Without Instagram for example, I probably wouldn’t be taking part in Blogtober - and writing this post in the first place. I wouldn’t have set myself a challenge to read 50 books this year without being inspired by the various Bookstagram accounts that I follow. And I don’t think I would be as inspired to create some fabulous new autumn designs if it weren’t for the daily dose of gorgeous hand dyed yarn content that I see served to me alongside my morning coffee.

For all of my dislike of the present format, starting my day without at least a little scroll through Instagram is unthinkable. It's part of my routine along with coffee and cat cuddles.

How about you - are you still there and how do you see your use of the platform changing? Drop me a line in the comments or come and say hi over on Instagram - @LouiseTilbrookDesigns

Excited for October

Wearing the BOB Socks

Happy 1st October. And I'll say 'white rabbits' for luck too.

Blimey - the weather has certainly taken a turn hasn't it? The rain was absolutely lashing it down outside yesterday as I curled up to do all of my writing jobs. Hot coffee and cosy socks were definitely the order of the day.

I find I work best when I batch jobs these days and for some reason Friday has become my writing day - when I sit down to do my newsletter, my draft blog posts for the coming week and any other bits and pieces, along with usual daily journaling.

I'm taking part in #Blogtober this year - and while I might not manage a daily blog post my aim is to spruce up my blog a little and more importantly to connect with others in the blogging community.

If you are taking part please do let me know - or tag someone you know that is so that I can follow them and cheer them on too.

It's also #Socktober of course so expect lots of sock related content this coming month.

If you have any burning sock related questions that I might be able to help with please do let know.

Oh, and of course there's my self-imposed reading challenge for 2022.

I'm currently stalled on book 43 of my 50 goal so I do need to make a little progress. I'm enjoying my current read - a historical fiction novel "The Girl in the Glass Tower" by Elizabeth Freemantle but it's a bit heavy going, especially when I'm tired.

So I'll be looking for a lighter, quicker read to power through this weekend and give me a bit of a boost.

And there we are: blogging, sock knitting, reading goals (oh, and a couple of new designs)... I think we can safely say that October is going to be a busy one ☕☕☕

To bundle or not to bundle?

The Coffee Break Cowl

I’ve been mulling over the issue of my older patterns for a while now. Acutely conscious that the downside of using social media to market one’s work means that invariably you actually have to talk about it from time to time (ie mention it in posts, on Instagram, casually drop it into twitter conversations) in order to actually sell anything.

It’s quite un-British and ‘selling posts’ are the thing I struggle with most online. 

As a natural consequence of this I find that I am much more comfortable talking about my newer work as subconsciously or not, I feel that this is of more value to the reader. In reality of course, very few of those who follow me on social media have been following me since the beginning of my designing career. To those stalwart and much appreciated souls who have, however, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

In actual fact, many of those who follow me now probably don’t have a clue about my older body of work - back in the Ravelry days.

It’s for these newer customers that occasionally I overcome my reluctance and schedule a few posts about some of my older patterns - usually those with a seasonal link or something to tie in to current events.

It was after one such post that I received an email which, I have to confess took me back a little. In essence it was someone asking, none too politely, why I felt able to charge for older designs. To paraphrase it was basically “you’ve already done the work and the file is just sitting there, so why do you still charge for it”

Clearly the concept of attempting to make a profit via a semi-passive income is a bit lost on this correspondent - and I’d love to see them argue for a free copy of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ in a bookstore - but it did make me stop and think for a bit.

When I shared this on twitter there were a few well-meaning comments about maybe packaging up older designs into a bundle and selling them at a significant discount in order to generate sales. But the more I thought about it the more I thought that to be honest that was even worse than the ‘just make them free’ argument.

Using this approach starts from the premise that there is something inherently less worthy about older patterns compared to newer ones. But this isn’t fast fashion. People are far less likely to only knit patterns from ‘this season’, unlike with clothing where it’s quite common for retailers to mark down ‘end of season’ ranges. 

In a similar vein, who is to say when a pattern is deemed old? They aren’t published with expiry dates. If someone today stumbles across my website and goes browsing around for patterns - please do feel free by the way - to them, all of the patterns they see there are new. They don’t differentiate, I don’t think, between those added this year compared to those that have been published some years previously. They are all equally novel.

Not only does a pattern bundle devalue the actual patterns themselves but I believe it also devalues the worth of my customers. Those loyal souls who actually choose to get my newsletter, who like and comment on my Instagram posts, who share a tweet or take a photo of their latest Fuss Free festival shawl to share with others.

I hate the phrase ‘target customer’ but these people really are the reason why I have a business at all. They are happy to pay full price for a pattern, but also appreciate a new pattern discount or early bird price on occasion via my newsletter.

Chasing after customers who don’t see that they should have to pay for older patterns, or who can only be enticed to buy them at a considerable reduction is not where I want to spend my valuable time.

On a slightly different tangent I’d be interested in how many patterns from bundles actually make it onto needles. From my own personal experience I know that I have bought bundles in the past that have just been filed and forgotten. I might have knit 1 or 2 of them but the remainder have certainly never seen the light of day.

How about you - do you like or value bundles? I’d love your feedback on this.

If you’d like to be notified of my new pattern releases, newsletters and the occasional cheeky early bird discount you can sign up below. And should I ever do a bundle, you’ll be the first to know :)

What kind of knitter are you?

I don’t know about you but I always used to love those fun quizzes you used to get in girls magazines. You know, the ones that claimed to be able to predict your entire personality type or your perfect lipstick shade from whether you had circled ‘mostly As’.

Even though you knew that you used to try to skew the answers to get the ‘cool girl’ result you wanted, or you retook the test a couple of times to get the ‘right’ answer.

So, just for fun I decided to do a similar one for knitters - because, well, why not.

It will come as no surprise that many of us are ‘Butterflies’ myself included although, these days I definitely tend towards ‘The Planner’ on occasion.

How about you? What category do you fall into