Some Boring Math... and socks!

Ok so basically I found out that knee socks are knit like anything else with shaping… just increase until it’s big enough to fit. I did the math anyways 'cause I'm a little OCD like that.

The Boring Math:
The sock circumference at my ankle (meaning what I’ve already knit) is 8". My calf measures around 15"ish (told you it was freakish) but I need some negative ease so I’ll say 14"ish. So I need to increase 6" (14" – 8"). At a gauge of 8 st/inch that means that I need to increase 48 stitches (6" x 8).

I probably should have started the increases much, much earlier… but since I didn’t and I don’t want to rip back I just measured from the top of my current knitting until the widest part of the freakish calf. That measurement is 4". So if my row gauge is 12, that means I have 48 (4" x 12rows/inch) rows left.

This means that I have to increase by 48 stitches in 48 rows…. So I either increase once every row or twice every other row.


Now what does it mean for the ribbing? There is a purl ridge centered on the back of my sock so I first though I would increase on either side of that every other row…. which would looks something like this..

Increasing on either side of the center purl ridge

I like how I can just add in ribs when I’ve increased by enough stitches…but it seems like I’m doing a lot of increasing in one place… this could look really dramatic and the last thing I want to do is call attention to the freakish calf. Perhaps if it was spaced out over more rows.

So then I thought about pairing increases on either side of the leg… which would look like this...

Increasing on either side of the leg:
That I liked… not so dramatic but with the same amount of increase over the same amount of rows.

So here’s what it looks like in sock form:



Sweet. Now I just have to figure out the cuff!

Have a great weekend… and if you happen to be a Stampers for their Halloween party Sat. night I’ll probably see you there!