Toe Up Socks in the Round

I'm knitting socks for Christmas gifts and have varied sizes to make.  One gal has a pretty large and long foot so I was kind of concerned about having enough yarn in my 100 gram ball to make the cuff and ankle as long as I normally do.  So when I have a large foot to fit or using a yarn that I haven't had experience with before, I usually do a toe up sock so I can take advantage of all the yarn without running out at the toe like could happen if I knit larger sizes with my favorite cuff down method.  I don't mind knitting toe up, but I dislike the seams in either the side of the ankle or on both sides of the ribbing as is the norm with toe up socks.  So, I came up with this method.  I'm not setting any speed records with this method but atleast I don't have to deal with the pesky side seams and I know I won't run out of yarn at the toes. 

I first divide my yarn into 2 cakes of equal length or weight of yarn.  I have a postal scale that weighs to a tenth of an ounce so that works well.  I knit 2 identical cuffs first, transfer the ribber sts to the main bed and knit 2 rows across at main tension.  Then scrap off with several rows of waste yarn and set aside.  Then I knit 2 identical toe up socks in the round and run my available yarn as far as it will go in the ankle and again scrap off.  I jot down the number of rows that I did in the first sock so I know how many rows to knit for the second one. 

Then I graft the cuff to the ankle.  My favorite grafting method is from the purl side so I lay the cuff onto the sock with right sides together and the scrap yarn enveloped between the layers.  The seam of the ribbing can be placed anywhere desired; I like it to go up the back center. 

If I'm using a patterned yarn and want matching socks, I make sure that I start each component of the sock at the same place in the color/pattern repeat.

slisen.blogspot dot com