Toe Up Classic Wedge Sock Toe // Technique Tuesday

[@LinBetz]

Can I just say that I love your technique videos. Everything is demonstrated clearly, alternative approaches are shown, reasons given for why you do it your way, and the explanation for why it works. I only discovered your channel recently and it's been like uncovering a treasure trove. I've been knitting for over fifty years and I learn something new every time I watch one of your videos. 😊 And I'm really enjoying going through your Friday video collection too. There's plenty of those to keep me amused for a while. Thank you!

[@user-lu6wz5im8b]

Your such a good teacher, slow and precise, easy to follow along. Thank you

[@AnnaKlura]

Thank you for showing how to work a sock with yo increases! But the yarn, I kept having to scroll back in the video because I just stared at the yarn. Just lovely!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

It's a fun yarn! I really enjoyed knitting with it. :-)

[@shelleyn.8503]

Love that YO increase, I’ve never seen it done like this before. Thank you!

[@lyudmylataranets8102]

Such a great video. I love every of it. Thank you for your work, explanations and inspirations

[@holly4kid]

Thank you so much for demonstrating this. It is so helpful! You are so helpful!

[@elisabethkronqvist3987]

I have an additional tip for toe-up socks knit with a closed cast-on. Leave the yarn tail a little longer than usual, and when you weave in the end (I like doing it after only a couple of rows, to get it over with), make an entire row of duplicate stitch on the purl side through the cast-on row (use a stitch marker or a length of tooth floss to mark it if you're unsure, though in my case, the stitches are easy to identify being a bit looser than a regular row.) I find it reinforces the toe seam and corrects issues with tension.

[@maureendesmarais6955]

Thanks so much. I've been doing the YO increases for more than a year but didn't know about reversing the YO at the end of the row and then knitting through the front. How convenient that I was just starting a pair of toe up socks when I saw this video!

[@elaineenstone6834]

A really clear demonstration. Thank you. 🇬🇧

[@caro1591]

Excellent tutorial, as always. Thank you.

[@flossyann410]

I always had a problem with the make 1, but since I started doing with the yarn over it has been much easier. I saw this method in one of your other techniques tuesdays videos about toes up socks. Thank you for the videos I really enjoy them and they are a great reference when I run into problems.

[@nneedler]

You made that very easy to understand.

[@elviraloewen4703]

Wow! The YO increase is so much easier than the M1 I've been using till now. Trying to get at the running thread at the end of the row is so fiddly! From now on it's YO for me.

[@baeleef_]

I love when you post techniques about projects I’m currently working on 😂 I swear it happens so often!

[@jackiepowell3591]

I never thought of using a YO to do a M1. The M1r was never a problem but the M1l… Never again in any pattern. This is a fabulous way to do thaws increases and keep the tension even. You are a genius.

[@elizabethfisher4536]

I work my wedge toe in exactly the same way! I use Judy's magic cast on and do yarnovers which I remount if needed to twist them the correct way. When I want to increase to a number that is not divisible by 4, I either start with a number of stitches that is not (10, eg.) or, for my last round of increases, I work just one on each side.

[@joanmachado9063]

Great video thank you

[@laurelstieg9375]

My favorite toe along with your mock short row heel..your the best.👍

[@alisonsmith376]

Somehow, you often know exactly what I’m working on. 😉

[@janetd6445]

Same here! I’ve tried 3 times this week before Roxanne published this video, perfect timing.

[@gailaltschwager7377]

Thank you so much, Roxanne!

[@goswamigeeta]

V clear tutorial. Thank you. I would love to see a tutorial on how the heel flap is done in a toe up construction.

[@zan_wild]

Ok, that YO is so freaking cool and WAY better than a M1! Could you also do the right leaning YO “backwards” so you don’t have to remount it?? Gonna try that! EDIT: aaaaaand we see what happens if I comment before the last 2 minutes of the video 😂

[@MOLLIMEDIA]

Great tutorial…Thanks. Have you ever tried making a center double increase on sock toes? It’s decorative (with very small holes), flat, and stretches easily. I found the stitch in the Reader’s Digest Knitter’s Handbook. I got that book after you talked about it in your videos. It’s a wonderful book. Thanks for sharing.

[@sonjanordahl3158]

I', currently knitting a tank top, top down, and the pattern calls for a M1L and M1R every other round. I'm finding that this creates a hole. The hole looks like it is due to pulling. Do you think this would stop that hole?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

It might. Knit up a swatch and compare your results. I like the results of a twisted YO better than a traditional M1 inc because it doesn't pull any slack out of the adjoining sts, which can distort them, but you may like the results better for other reasons. (Every knitter is different.) The only way to know which result you prefer is to try each one using the same yarn and needles and then compare.

[@avrilcleland6728]

Why use a YO? Would it work just to use the M1L or R instead? The reason for asking is that the YO method might be a tad too loose or see through for me.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

You can use whichever M1 method you prefer. I find I maintain really even tension with the YO version, because the amount of yarn on the needle is the same as a regular stitch. The traditional method pulls slack from the surrounding sts, and the backwards loop method adds a bit too much slack. Not all knitters experience the same results with the same techniques.

[@lindapark5971]

Hi Roxanne, Thank you for all your wonderful videos. So full of information. I have a question for you. Before I discovered the really loose cast on, I made a whole bunch of sox that are far too tight at the top (top down). Is there a way to fix this without undoing the entire sox? Thanks!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

You can use the same concept as repairing something that has been damaged near a CO edge, as seen in this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2qwqnWqYqh9qas Use a circular needle to pick up the first round of sts, and then snip a stitch in the CO, and pick the yarn out. You can then use some type of sewn BO, like the half-hitch BO to replace the CO edge.

[@lindapark5971]

@@RoxanneRichardson Thank you so much Roxanne! This means that a whole bunch of otherwise useless socks will make their way to the local homeless shelter.

[@nicolelafontaine1720]

Thanks so much, I can never remember if the twisted stitches should lean to the right or to the left, I will take a note on my rounded toe pattern.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I usually have them lean toward the area changing in size (away from the edge). That way, I don't have to think about right or left, I just look at which way things are pointing!

[@nicolelafontaine1720]

@@RoxanneRichardson Great way to remember, thanks !

[@amandas.439]

I'm confused by the direction of the increase. I thought my toe up was R leaning increase at the first of the row and left leaning at the end of the row. Why would I do the opposite as in this video? Thanks so much! I love your videos!❤

[@RoxanneRichardson]

You can choose to do the opposite, if you prefer. The goal is consistency, not an absolute directive. I tend to prefer leaning my increases and decreases toward the area changing in size, rather than away, but it's always knitter's choice.

[@amandas.439]

@@RoxanneRichardson thank you!!

[@thespencahs]

New to sock knitting (just cast on my first toe up with JMCO). If I do only half round with the JMCO cast on, at what point do I switch from pulling the front needle with magic loop to pulling the back needle? It looked like you still pulled the front for the first increase round (or did I miss something?). Thank you! Your videos are incredibly helpful!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

You always pull the back needle. The yarn is always connected to the last stitch you worked (or CO), so if it's connected to the last stitch of one needle, you will then work the first stitch of the other needle.

[@sy2.083]

Is this toe construction more comfortable on the foot than other constructions?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I described how to knit this toe based on the standard formula for constructing it. The resulting toe may be naturally more or less comfortable to a specific person, based on their foot shape. Like all sock toes, you can modify the shaping in order to better conform to a recipient's toe shape.

[@benzicraig2697]

Hello how lovely

[@kj3d812]

Why do so many people use the wedge toe? Our feet are not shaped like that. As a new knitter, I'm confused as to why this toe is so popular. As someone with Sensory Processing Disorder, I am very reluctant to spend time knitting a sock I will end up never wearing because of extra "junk" at the end of the toes (my feet are *extremely* sensitive to such things -- it's why I wanted to learn to knit socks: to avoid the toe seams of commercial socks). I did find a video on knitting an "anatomical toe," which I'm going to try, but I'm just baffled at the widespread use of the unnatural-shaped wedge toe.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

The wedge shape is the simplest way to create a shape with sloped sides that will surround a rounded body part at the top. It's the same formula used to create the simplest set-in sleeve as well. Knitting is forgiving and will conform to irregularly shaped body parts. If you look at the toe in the thumbnail that is wearing the wedge toe, the wedge toe conforms to that toe just fine. The flat part at the top sits against the great toe and the 2nd toe. One of the decreased edges lies against the gently sloping side of the great toe, while the other lies across the top of the smaller toes. The "corners" are smoothed out after washing and wearing. That said, there are many, many other types of sock toes, including the Round Toe kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKSQgqZ5mNWGetU and the Spiral Toe kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6vXdJlqaZ2Erq8. This video explains how to modify in different ways to fit the toe shape kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5fVmp2BZbabbZI The round toe was perhaps more popular prior to WWI, when the world was knitting socks for soldiers fighting a war in wet trenches, but requires a specific multiple of sts to work. The wedge toe became more popular during that time, because regardless of the number of sts on the needles, you could divide them in half and work decreases at each end of each half. That was when grafting toes became more popular, as well, rather than using a three-needle bind off. This was all to create socks that were as smooth as possible for the soldiers, in order to avoid trench foot. What is an advantage for one person may be a disadvantage for another. Try different toes for the same pair of socks and see which you prefer, then rip back the one you don't like and knit it to match the one you do like. (This is best achieved by knitting cuff down, rather than toe up, so that you can easily swap out your toes.)