Proto-socks?

[dorothean]

I know I am not ready to knit real socks yet -- I've just got to the stage where I can turn rectangular shapes of knitting into sweater pieces by increasing and decreasing -- but I just realized there might be a kind of sock I can do.

I bought a pair of knee socks at Target which turn out to be a pair of long tubes sewn straight across at one end, and with a thicker band at the other end so they stay up the leg. They can be laid out completely flat -- no shaped heel at all.

They aren't the best socks ever, of course, because the toe seam gets all twisted around when I wear them, but they're good enough for someone who never has enough black knee socks. And it seems like they would be easy enough for me to make -- knit in the round, sew up at one end when done.

Is this a recognized form of proto-sock, and if so, what is it called, so I can go look for patterns? (Obviously they wouldn't be very difficult patterns, but I'm not good at predicting how many stitches to cast on, etc., yet.)

Comments

[hobbitbabe]

Tube socks.

There are quite a lot of tube-sock patterns on Ravelry.

One thing that you should be aware of before you do a lot of work wanting to get functional kneesocks is that knitted socks don't tend to be as stretchy/elastic as storebought socks, so your kneesocks without heels might not stay up very well.

[neotoma]

Tube socks.

If you're going to make knee socks, you'll have to account for the difference in calf vs. ankle circumference.

You might want to look into patterns with afterthought heels -- it's a method that is basically knitting tube socks, and adding heels afterwards.

[dorothean]

Thank you!

Yeah, all the pictures of hand-knitted socks I've seen seem to be using much thicker wool -- I suppose machine-knitted socks, using thinner wool, can get a lot more stitches into the same space and be stretchier. I'll have to think about that.

[dorothean]

Thanks!

I'll try to find a tutorial that explains how to deal with circumference difference, and afterthought heels -- nice name!

[rokeon]

You could also look at yoga socks- no toe or heel, so it's a tube with an opening in the middle. I'm working on a pair for the exact same reason, sock knitting without the tricky bits!

[dorothean]

Hmm, interesting, thank you!