Alternative Sock Toes...

Hello my fellow sock knitters :) Today I am going to chat about the options to customize your sock toes. In the previous post, I knitted a sock toe that I like for my socks. I prefer a wider sock toe as I don't like feeling my toes squished together, but if your feet are different (narrower, toes more pointy etc), then you will want to change the shape of your sock toe...

As a quick aside note...there are countless ways to knit the toes of a sock, including Short Row toes, Star toe, as well as a bunch of provisional cast-on based toes... I don't use these , so I am not going to talk about them...suffice to say that my way is not the only way :)




If you look at the toe in the pic above, you'll see that the toe is broad and the width of knitting required for the foot (full number of stitches needed for the foot circumference), starts close to the point of the sock. This type of toe is good for people with broad +/- flat feet. Also, it's good for people who like room for their toes, whether they have broad feet or not. If you have worn a sock that has a bit of knitted fabric hanging off the point of your foot, then this would be the better alternative toe shape. This toe was the one from the previous post, where the increases were made on every row, first and last stitches of each side of a round.

What kind of toe would be good for people with very pointy feet?

The broad toe above would hang loose and wide on the foot that is narrower and perhaps pointier. The better alternative would be the shaped toe, seen below. Again, the same number of required stitches are cast-on, and then on the first round you just knit, next round increase first and last stitch (both sides of the round), then knit a round and so on. You are making the increases every alternate round, until you have the total required number of stitches for the foot. This results in a longer, sharper toe shape, which when pulled over your foot, will " hug" your toes :)



In addition, you have the option to knit toes that conform to the anatomical shape of the front of your foot. This would require a " half-half" series of increases, combining the two techniques explained above. It's easiest to read the increases on a chart (see below). Decide if you are knitting the right or left foot first. Remember that you will end up with mirror image toes, so don't get confused...do one at a time :) On one edge of the toe , you will increase every round, on the other, every alternate round and so on... this might work better for you if you prefer the shaping to be over your big and second toes, tapering sharply over the outside toes).


I have drawn a little schematic chart , illustrating these ideas. On the bottom left of the chart, you have the "alternate round" increase toe, on the right the "every round" increase toe (only one side of the knitting is shown). On the top, you have (again only one side shown), the left and right feet toes for the anatomically shaped toes. On the inside side, where the big toes are , the increases are made every round, and on the outside edge, every alternate round.

By changing the increase placement, you can shape the toes according to what works best for you...

A short post today...hope your socks are coming along nicely...

Lots of Love,
Heidi :)