KNITTING SOCKS TUTORIAL

We discovered an excellent knitting socks tutorial on youtube. We were very hesitant to try our first knitted sock. We had spun up some grey fleece from our grey alpaca and had a very nice yarn to work with, but the double pointed needles looked scary and confusing.

Don't let them intimidate you. Having never knitted on them before, we were able to produce a very nice set of socks from our alpaca fiber and they actually knitted up very quickly. Believe us when we say that you will have the warmest, softest pair of socks in town when you make alpaca socks.

Do double pointed knitting needles feel awkward at first? Yes, they do. We found with just a little practice that this feeling was easily overcome. After the first couple of rows of knitting, the needles stabilize and are easier to handle. We had two sets of needles going so that the pair of socks was finished at the same time. You can make your own alpaca yarn, or have someone else spin it up for you or, purchase already made yarn.

Reading sock patterns can be difficult to understand when you don't actually see or know what they are talking about. Most people are visual learners and seeing is better than reading. Here's an excellent video on getting started with using double pointed needles to make some really warm alpaca socks.

Getting started with double pointed needles:

Make the heel

The heel seems to be one of the most confusing parts of making socks. Watch the following video to help understand how to create the heel.

Turning the heel and shaping the heel gusset is the next step:

Shape and graft the toe:

Now that you have seen the knitting socks turorial on how to use double pointed needles, go find a sock pattern and create a wonderful pair of alpaca socks.

Here's a few tips to help you make great socks from alpaca fiber:

Use bamboo needles as alpaca fiber is slippery.
When casting on, cast all of your stitches onto one needle and then transfer onto the other needles. Usually the pattern will call for an even number of stitches on all the needles.
Use the cast-on tail as a guide to which needle is the end of your round.
Knit tightly when you switch between needles. If the yarn is too lose between the needles, you will get a gap in your knitting called laddering. Pull a little tighter when you make the first stitch on each needle.
Hold the needle with the first cast on stitches on it in your left hand and the empty needle in your right hand and knit as normal. When the needle in your left hand is empty, put it in your right hand and knit from the next needle on the left. The remaining needles will just hang as you work.

We hope this knitting socks tutorial will help you produce a wonderful pair of alpaca socks to keep or give as a gift.

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