Welcome to the "My First Socks" Follow Along

It's time to jump in with both feet!

But, why from the toe up?

Great question! There's a few reasons why "toe up" is my "go to" when working simple cosy socks -

  1. To make the most of the yarn on hand. You can split your yarn into two equal balls and then keep knitting until you run out. Depending on your foot size, that can sometimes give you a generous pair of "pippi longstockings" for cosying into.
  2. To avoid grafting. Not everyone enjoys the process of grafting stitches together at the toe. So let's kick things off with a magic cast on instead.
  3. To ensure your cuff is flexible. It can be tricky to get the right level of ease and elasticity in your cast on when working socks from the cuff down. Sometimes it's only clear that the cast on is too tight after you've completed the entire sock (which you now can't get on over your foot). With the toe up method you only need to unravel one round if things go astray at that point. With cuff down it would be the entire sock...

Let's talk needles

Whether you are using a thinner or thicker sock yarn, we strongly recommend working your toe up socks using the Magic Loop technique of working in the round. It's most suited to this style of sock as it neatly divides your stitches in half and makes it easy to keep track of the sections you are working on.

You will usually need to use a smaller needle size than called for on the yarn label (e.g. double knitting yarn often suggests size 4mm / US Size 6, but for socks you would use around a size 3.25mm / US Size 3 needle.)

Your Follow Along Guide Book (linked at the bottom of the page) has further information on choosing needle sizes.

Your Follow Along Guide Book

We have a created a full e-book companion for this course, which you can download at the link below. It's full of useful diagrams, key point summaries, reference tables ad more.

Download the Guide Book

FAQs

You will receive a unique coupon code for use in our online shop after you purchase your follow along ticket.

This code can be redeemed at checkout, either in store or online. You code will be valid for 6 months, and it must be used in one single transaction.

In the lesson above we go through how to choose the right yarn for your project and how to make sure you have enough for your socks too, of course.

Generally speaking you can reuse the yarn from your swatches in your project (even though the yarn has already been blocked). It shouldn't make a very noticeable difference in your finished project.


If you'd prefer to have some "insurance" yarn then ordering extra might be no harm at all. You can always add this yarn in as contrast toes and heels in future pairs of socks.

This will depend on which pattern you are following, but we have created a handy chart in your FAL Guide Book to break down the average size needles used with different thicknesses of yarn.

Simply pop your query in the chat box at the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

A member of the TIK Team will get back to you within one working day.