In this tutorial I'm going to show you how
to work toe up socks using DK weight yarn,
using German short rows instead of traditional
wraps and turns and picking up the wraps.
Now, that's a lot of different features in
a sock.
I'll run through those one by one, so you
can see if this style of sock suits you.
First, these socks are toe up, which is in
my opinion the superior way to knit socks
because you end up with no leftover sock yarn.
And the reason for that is you knit the most
important part of the sock, the toe and foot,
and then you just use up all of the rest of
your yarn in the cuff and knitting it as long
as it will go and you have a little tiny bit
of yarn leftover you can just throw away and
not store.
I think that's great.
The other thing is, you don't have to worry
about leaving enough yarn for the foot of
the sock.
Me, when I'm knitting a cuff-down sock, or
when I used to knit a cuff-down sock, I would
always worry about having enough yarn for
the foot because you're never entirely sure
how much yarn that's going to be.
So, I would either leave as much as I thought
I need and then hope I wouldn't run out before
I finished, or I would leave way too much
and then I have leftover yarn.
So, toe up socks I think are a great way to
go to use up all the sock yarn and get the
longest sock you possibly can.
Next these socks are knitted in DK weight.
And this is my first sock tutorial where I've
ever used this weight of yarn.
And I'm really pleased with the way they turned
out.
I always encouraged people to use bigger yarn,
bigger needles, thicker yarn and bigger needles
when they're learning a new technique because
it's much easier to see what you're doing
when you're not using tiny needles and sock
yarn.
But with the German short rows we don't have
any wraps to pick up.
So, the DK weight yarn is fine, you still
end up with a sock that knits up pretty quickly,
but it's a thin enough sock that is totally
wearable, it fits inside shoes and boots and
everything else and its not as thick as a
worsted weight sock, so I'm really happy with
these.
And the last and most important feature of
these socks is they're knit using German short
rows.
And I recently put out a video, a short technique
video showing how to work German short rows
and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
People don't like picking up the wraps from
wraps and turns and short rows, and I totally
get it.
They're hard to see and your not sure you're
picking up the right thing, and they really
slow you down.
Well, German short rows eliminate the wraps
and turns and they work and they look great.
And I don't even really understand why they
work because they're really simple, but they
do.
And so, they are in this pattern.
And the pattern is written out row by row
instructions for every row in every size,
the pattern size for men, women and kids.
And this pattern is primarily for one sock
at a time using double pointed needles.
But the pattern includes bonus content.
And the bonus content is a bonus video and
you get the link to the video with the pattern,
and it shows you how to modify this pattern
for magic loop knitting.
Knitting on one long circular which isn't
very difficult really.
But it also shows you how to modify this pattern
for two at a time magic loop knitting, which
is a little bit more involved.
So, if you'd like to get your copy of the
pattern with the bonus content, to follow
along I'll give you a link here on screen
to my website.
You'll also find a link to my website in the
video description field below on YouTube.
And also on my website you'll see а list
of all the different yarns I used, the needle
size that you need, pretty much all of the
information you need, right down to my nail
color, if you want to know that, will I'll
be on my website.
And next we're going to get started with the
toe of the sock and that's coming right up.
Before we get going on the toe, I want to
talk a little bit about the yarn that I used.
And I used sport weight yarn for this pair
and DK weight yarn for this pair.
And really, those two yarn weights seem like
they're almost interchangeable most of the
time, and it turned out that it was true in
this case.
You can use either DK weight or sport weight.
Did I say sock weight?
I meant sport weight.
Sport weight yarn and I was able to use the
exact same needle size and get the exact same
gauge with those two weights of yarn size
that kind of seems like one weight of yarn.
As long as you are getting 100 grams of yarn,
100 grams will either be in one skein or hank,
or 250 gram balls.
You'll have enough to knit a whole pair of
socks.
Anyway we're going to get started with the
toe of the sock.
Let's go and take a look.
I want to explain first that I'm going to
be using much bulkier yarn for demonstration.
I'm going to use bulky yarn and these big
thick needles to demonstrate the techniques.
This pattern is actually knit with size three
needles, which is 3.25 millimeter.
And this is the DK or sport weight yarn that
you'll want to use.
But we're going to be using this super chunky
stuff, so you can really see what I'm doing.
The first thing that we're going to do is
start off with a crochet chain for a provisional
cast on.
And this is how I always like to start out
my toe up socks, I think it gives you the
best tension and the best looking toe.
Start out by tying a straight-up knot in the
yarn close to one end.
This is going to let us know that this is
the slip knot end of the yarn.
Make a slip knot, and this is where you'll
need your crochet hook because we're going
to do a crochet chain.
And you don't really have to know how to crochet
to do this.
This is all the crochet that you'll need to
know.
But here's a link to my crochet chain video
in case you need it.
And you will crochet as many as the pattern
tells you that you need for the size that
you're knitting.
I'm not counting.
I've been talking and not counting.
When you're finish break the yarn and pull
back the end of the yarn through and tighten
it up a little bit.
Now, what we're going to do is pick up stitches
in what is known as the spine of the crochet
chain.
So, this side of the crochet chain is a bunch
of Vs.
If you flip it over you get the spine or what
I call the hyphens.
I have my crochet chain backwards.
You want to set it up so that the knot, the
slip knot end is over here on the right.
We're going to pick up stitches from right
to left and we want to start picking up on
the right side.
So, you get your yarn ready and you just need
one needle for this.
To pick up a knit, you put your needle into
that horizontal loop, and it slides back out.
Take your yarn and kind of fold it over leaving
yourself a 6 inch tail, and put that loop
around the needle and pull it through and
go into the next hyphen, grab it and pull
it through.
If you ever loose track of where you are,
just take a look kind of from further away,
and make sure you're going in the right place.
I'm going to take you through the first half
of the short row toe in this video segment,
then we'll go into the second half in the
next.
I have no idea how many I have.
Okay, that'll do for demonstration.
I'm going to pull back across these stitches,
just pick up another double pointed needle.
You'll notice that the first the part of this
sock, the entire toe of the sock is knit with
just straight knitting.
We're not knitting using all of the double
pointed needles yet, we're just using two,
so it's really just knitting in rows, flat
knitting.
When the pattern is written out exactly row
by row, for whichever size you're knitting.
So, you'll want to definitely follow the pattern.
What I'm doing here is just demonstration,
but I want to show you how to work the German
short rows.
You're going to knit the number indicated
in the pattern, and turn your work.
And then, this is where we actually work the
German short row, in the pattern I just abbreviated
it GSR.
This is where we're going to work it.
We're on the wrong side of the work, we're
going to slip that stitch from the left needle
to the right, take your working yarn and yank
up on it a little bit, so it gives you kind
of a double loop stitch.
Pull the yarn around and forward because this
is a purl row, and purl back across the stitches.
We're just going to leave that double stitch
there for later.
You purl up, you purl as many stitches as
the pattern tells you to again, and turn the
work and you're going to GSR on the right
side of the work.
To do that you slip the stitch from the left
needle to the right, pull up on the working
yarn and then just knit across the stitches
as many as you're supposed to.
Now, the knit side of the work you don't really
get the awesome double stitch, you get more
like a stitch and yarn over.
It's perfectly fine.
It looks different, it's my point, from the
wrong side of the work to the right side of
the work.
I'm going to show you that again.
Knit the number of stitches as indicated in
the pattern.
And it wont be all the way across the row,
from here on out.
You do that and then GSR, which on the wrong
side of the work means slipping the stitch
from the left needle to the right.
Your yarns are ready in front.
Pull up on that stitch, pull the yarn forward
between the two needles and purl the number
indicated in the pattern.
And we're going to do same thing on the other
side.
Turn your work and GSR, pull the yarn forward
between the two needles.
Slip the stitch, yank up on the working yarn
a bit and knit across the stitches.
One more time, on the right and the wrong
side.
Turn the work.
We're on the wrong side, my working yarn is
already in front.
I'll slip a stitch from the left needle to
the right.
Pull up on the working yarn.
Pull the yarn forward between the two needles
and purl.
And one more time, turn the work and on the
right side pull the yarn forward between the
two needles.
Slip that stitch from left needle to right,
pull up on the working yarn and knit.
So, you can see we're ending up with a really
shaped piece of work, even though this is
just a little sample with bulky yarn, it's
going to end up looking like we hope it will.
Continue this way working the German short
rows, the GSR, as many times the pattern indicates
for the size that you're knitting.
And in the next segment we're going to talk
about picking up the wraps, which isn't picking
up the wraps at all, but completing the German
short row stitch.
Once you finish the first half of the toe,
it's time to start working the second half.
Let's get right to it.
This is exactly how we left this after the
first segment in the first half of the German
short rows.
I'm going to show you how to complete the
German short row and make the second half
of the toe.
I'm going to knit up to the first double stitch.
And the pattern tells you exactly how many
to knit, so you don't really have to look
for them.
But in this bulky yarn, they're really easy
to see.
You're going to knit the two halves of that
double stitch together and knit the next stitch.
Turn the work and do a German short row technique,
just like you did before on the same stitch.
Since we're on the wrong side of the work,
the yarn's already in front.
I slipped the stitch, pull up, yarn forward
and purl.
You're going to purl up to the first double
stitch.
And on this side it looks more like a stitch
and a yarn over.
It looks a little different.
Purl those two halves together and purl the
two halves together on the next one, turn
the work.
We're going to GSR technique on this stitch,
sew the yarn forward, slip that stitch, pull
up on the working yarn and knit across.
So, instead of picking up the tiny little
crabby wraps around stitches, we're just knitting
the two halves of the German short row together.
There's my double stitch, I knit it together
and I knit the two halves of the next stitch
together.
Turn the work, GSR, purl those two together,
purl the next two together, turn your work,
GSR.
And I want to get all the way down to the
end because I want to show you what you do
next in removing the provisional cast on.
Okay, I'm down to the last one, I'll just
knit those two halves together and turn the
work.
And the pattern's very clear about working
this when you get to the last one.
I'm just going to slip that first stitch,
no GSR and get to the last one on the purl
side.
Okay.
I'll purl those two halves together and I
finished the toe.
Now granted, this is an awkward little toe
on bulky yarn, so you can see we very much
have a shaped piece of knitting here.
Now I'm going to remove the provisional cast
on and I've set this out in front of me, with
the slip knot end over here on the right and
the non slip knot...
Oh I'm sorry, I just got that backward.
The slip knot end, the end with the knot is
over here on the left and the non slip knot
end is over here on the right.
And this is where I want to start removing
the provisional cast on.
Remember how you just pulled that last end
through the last loop?
Well, you can just undo that, you can start
unzipping this.
I actually want to get some scissors out.
I don't think I've ever released the provisional
cast on without needing a pair of scissors
and one of my handy little bamboo pins.
Okay.
So, I'm unzipping all the extra ones.
And the first stitch is always wonky, always.
Might as well tell you now, the yarn, the
scrap yarn runs through this first stitch.
So, take your needle and get it through there,
and then I'm going to cut this short, so it's
easy to pull out.
Okay, the rest of it will not go like that,
just that first stitch.
Now, what we're doing is we are looking at
the Vs in the sock yarn, the pink yarn.
That's why we used the contrasting color,
very different color in the provisional cast
on, the crochet chain.
Because we're looking at the pink yarn and
we're looking at Vs, the knit stitches.
We want to take the tip of our needle and
run it under the right leg of each V. And
this is how this looks.
Run it under right leg of the V, each one.
I like to try to get a whole bunch picked
up at once.
So, now I have a whole bunch and now I can
unzip the crochet chain and if all goes well,
it unzips without snags, and it did.
I hope it kind of messes up because I want
to show you what to do when it kind of messes
up.
Okay.
Some of the stitches are on there.
I'm going to put more stitches on a third
needle here.
There's no way I did this whole crochet chain
without snagging the yarn somewhere.
I almost feel like making a fake snag.
No way, no way this thing is going to unzip.
Okay, let me just say, if you end up where
you pull this and it's not unzipping, just
take a close look and you'll see... don't
cut any pink yarn, don't cut any of your sock
yarn, but you can cut anything in the blue
yarn, anything that is your scrap yarn color.
So, if I had a snag, I would just cut the
blue barn to unsnag it.
Seriously?
That never happens, it didn't snag once.
Okay.
Well, I'm going go buy a lottery ticket.
So, here we are, we're on three needles now
and I'm ready to work a row here.
My working yarn is coming from the stitch
here, I'm ready to work across this way.
I'm going to slip the first stitch and knit
across.
There's one quick thing I want...
Well, let me actually point this up before
I start.
These are the provisional cast on stitches
and these are the live stitches that I had
before.
And there is often a gap here between the
provisional cast on stitches and the live
stitches, and this will be the same on both
the toe and the heel.
You have the option of picking up an extra
stitch or even an extra two stitches in these
gaps to keep them from being a gap.
You can close the gaps this way.
I'm going to show you how to do that.
And the pattern is really clear.
Again, I'm just showing you the techniques
here.
You'll want to follow the pattern for the
exact instructions for where your yarn is.
I don't even know what I'm saying.
You want to follow the pattern for the exact
instructions for the entire toe.
So, I knit across these stitches and here
is my gap.
I'm going to take my needle and just...
The same way we picked up stitches from the
crochet chain, I'm going to put it under two
legs of a V, wrap it and pull it through and
take a look.
That looks really good, I'm going to keep
going with that.
I want to show you a bad example.
Put it under, wrap it and pull it through.
And that is actually leaving a hole, so I'm
going to put back where I had it.
So, I pick up that extra stitch and then work
across the other stitches.
Work across the other stitches and pick up
a stitch in here as well.
And then on the following row, I will want
to knit two together here and knit two together
here to eliminate those stitches.
They were just there for one row.
There's also a trick I want to show you.
That's probably not as easy to see, let me
do it on this one.
You see I have these little markers here and
I put these little yarn markers in, so that
when I knit the first sock I can knit an exact
copy for the second sock.
I put in the little yarn marker right after
I finished the toe of the sock, so that I
can count the rows, the length of the foot.
And then when I start the heel I put in a
little marker, so that I can count from there
to the cuff.
And it's just so that I have two perfectly
matching socks.
Then I'm going to show you how you do that.
Let me just finish up this row, so I don't
have four needles.
Once I finished all the rounds and rows for
the toe, you can choose to do this, just remember
which one you chose.
You can choose to do this before you pick
up the stitches, before you work around at
all.
I usually do this before I do any working
around, before I pick up stitches and eliminate
them back out again, pick up stitches in the
gaps.
Or you can do this after you do both of those
things.
You might want to note on your pattern.
I left the yarn marker after I picked up stitches
in the gap and decreased them back out, or
I put in my yarn marker before I started knitting
in around.
What I do is I take a bit of really light
weight yarn in a different color and put it
on a tapestry needle and just string it through
one of these stitches.
And then, I tie a little knot.
I think this is called an overhand knot.
I tie a little knot and I tighten it up.
And you can do this with a stitch marker.
I just don't like plastic flopping around
when I'm trying to knit the socks.
So, I have this itty-bitty yarn marker on
there.
I can knit across, it will stay there, it
will not interfere with anything but it'll
make it a lot easier when I go to count rows.
And we're at a point now where I'm just going
around and around the length of the foot.
And I'll knit the length of the foot stopping
when the pattern tells me to because it's
time to start the heel at that point, which
is what we're going to talk about next.
Once you've finished the length of the sock,
you just go around and around and around knitting
all the stitches, the pattern will tell you
exactly when to stop and start knitting the
heel.
And the heel is worked exactly like the toe
of the sock, which is crazy because you would
never think those two things were the same.
But if you take a look, they are exactly the
same shape and the whole thing comes together
to make a foot.
So it works, trust me.
I'm going to show you a couple of tricks for
getting started on the heel, let's go ahead
and take a look.
Okay.
Here is my Jolly Green Giant sample here and
I'm ready to get started on the heel.
And I have my yarn marker here like I showed
you in the last section.
This is where I finished the toe.
And now that I finished the length of the
sock, I want to place another yarn marker
because I want to know exactly how many rows
or rounds I had in the foot of the socks,
so I can make a matching sock.
So, I'm going to take some of my scrap yarn
again and mark this, just like I did before.
And I won't tie the knot this time.
But you see I have these two markers here.
And this is just a little thing that I do,
you don't have to get fussy like this.
I want these two markers to be on the instep,
the top of the sock and I want to work my
heel on these back two needles.
So, the last row before I start working the
heel, and I haven't done this, but I want
to put these stitches on two needles and these
stitches on one needle.
Because I want to work my heel stitches across
one needle like I did for the toe, but I will
just slide things around to do this.
I just grabbed an extra needle.
Slip the stitches around and you always slip
as if to purl.
So now, there I've done it.
This is the top of my foot where I have the
stitches on two needles and all of my heel
stitches are on one needle.
Now, I'm going to work back and forth doing
the German short rows, just like I did for
the toe.
It works out amazingly well.
And then I will just knit the cuff.
And there's my marker.
With this yarn... this yarn had a lot of yards
too, but I was able to get a really long sock
out of the women's size.
You'll just going to knit the cuff until you're
almost out of yarn.
And I did the exact calculations for you.
To get about an inch of cuff, you want to
start your two by two ribbing when you have
about five grams of yarn left.
That's how I ended up making these two matching
socks that I actually used as scale.
And it ended up that I had just like a foot
of yarn leftover and I just threw it away,
I was so glad.
So, about five grams of yarn and that worked
for both the DK and the sport weight yarn
that I used.
That will give you enough for 11 rows, which
is about one inch and then you're ready to
start the bind off.
So, I have a little sample here of the two
by two rib.
I'll show you really quickly, if you haven't
worked a two by two rib, I'll give you a quick
overview that.
And then I want to show you how to work with
this awesome stretchy bind off.
So, we're going to just keep working around.
We're going to start with two knit stitches,
yarn forward and purl, yarn back and knit.
Oops.
I just yarned back because I was tightening
that stitch.
The pattern tells you how to arrange the stitches,
so you always end on two purl and start a
new stick with two knits.
It's easier to start a new needle with two
knits.
Okay.
Now, at this point, well, when you start the
two by two rib, you probably want to place
a marker to mark the beginning of the round.
The beginning of the round has not really
made any difference at this point, the beginning
or the end of a round, but now it will because
you do want to make it all the way around
the ribbing, so it's even all the way around.
This is the only time the beginning of the
round even makes a difference.
So, I just put a clippy marker in.
Now, this bind off is really great.
It's a simple stretchy bind off and it is
really stretchy.
You see there.
That's really easy to work, I'm going to give
you a quick overview of this.
Now, this is knit two purl two rib and this
is how to work this bind off in this kind
of rib.
I'm going to start by knitting two stitches,
taking the tip of my left needle and putting
it into the front of those two stitches, which
means my back needle is kind of in the back
loop of those two.
Wrap it and pull it through.
So, I just knit two together through the back
loop.
The next knit is a purl, so I purl one.
Then I take the tip of my left needle and
put it into the back of those two stitches,
purl those two together.
The next stitch is a purl.
Put my left needle into the back of those
two stitches, purl those two together.
The next stitch is a knit, so I knit it.
Tip of my left needle, put it into the front
of those two stitches, knit them together
through the back loop.
Knit.
Knit them together through the back loop,
purl.
Purl them together, purl.
Purl them together.
So, you get the idea.
You do that all the way around.
Oops, I guess I want to do that all the way
around, because I want to show you one more
thing.
My needle keeps catching on my sleeve, there
we go.
I want to show you how to correct the jog
that you get.
I'm just going to speed through the rest of
this.
I will tell you, this technique is easier
to work with pointier needles.
Okay.
I hope I have enough yarn.
I cut the yarn, I hope I have enough to finish
this.
You hang tight with me for just a moment,
I'll speed through this.
When you're knitting in a round, you're actually
knitting in a big spiral, unlike crochet where
you 
crochet you chain up and you are actually
knitting like circle on top of circle.
With knitting, knitting around and around
means you're knitting in a giant spiral, which
can leave you with a pretty substantial stair
step after the bind off in anything you knit,
so I'll show you how to correct that.
Oh, I'm going to have just enough yarn.
Okay.
Now, I want to take...
I make that last loop big and grab that yarn,
break the yarn to pull through.
And there is a really nice, big, substantial
jog.
Everything is going on really smoothly until
we have the very last stitch and it looks
terrible.
We're going to fix that.
We're going to make it look perfect and smooth.
So, I have a tapestry needle.
I'll thread the end of the yarn on the tapestry
needle.
And our goal is to make just continuous Vs
all the way around the bind off and to do
that, we're going to make a V.
We're going to stitch a V into this.
So, my terrible end is over here, here's my
nice end.
I'm going to go under two legs of the first
V over here, and then go back down into the
stitch where the yarn came out of over here
and that makes a V. And when I do that...
this is really a loose gauge and I actually
I have a hole here, that you probably won't
see in other knitting, but because I have
a hole there I'm going to actually just stitch
that up.
You won't see it in the DK weight socks, but
you see how nicely that smoothed all of that
down.
And to correct that hole I'm just going to
leave this through, I have to weave in the
end anyway.
And this is on the inside of the socks, so
no one's going to see it.
Oops, that last one was kind of a big jump.
I just did that like I was concerned that
someone was going to look inside the sock
and be dissatisfied with my sloppy work.
Well, it's good to do careful work.
So, you see now I closed up that gap and everything
looks good, and this looks smooth and I can
just finish weaving in that end.
And that looks very nice.
And it's stretchy.
That's it, those are all the steps for making
German short row DK weight toe up socks.
If you're working from the pattern and you
have the link to the bonus material, I will
see you in the next segment.
To everyone else, good luck.
