Did you really already finish knitting [Chipps]({% post_url 2013-03-20-knitting-pattern-chipps %})? Did you enjoy [carrying the yarn up]({% post_url 2013-03-21-knitting-tutorial-carry-yarn %})? I am amazed, you are the quickest knitter ever! Now you just need to sew elastic into the cuffs and your socks will be perfect.
This is how you do it, it’s really simple, but I figured you could use some nice big clear photographs to help you along.
Basically to start you turn the sock inside out, cut a piece of sock elastic (found at your friendly LYS) to be about 30 or so inches long and tie it close to the bottom of the cuff (see below for how to do a half hitch to secure it).
Then you start threading the yarn, from right to left, through one leg of each knit rib.
Keep spiraling up the cuff until you reach the top. This photo might be a little easier to see whats happening:
Whenever you start to run out of elastic, just tie a little square knot onto the next length and trim the ends to about 1/4”. They’ll stay snug inside the ribbing and you won’t have ridiculous lengths of elastic to deal with.
When you’re at the top you’ll want to tie the elastic off the same way as you tied it on, which is to say, like this.
First thread the elastic through a stitch and create a loop. Thread the elastic through this loop from top to bottom (ie right to left)
Create another loop the exact same way, through the same stitch, but this time thread the elastic from bottom to top (ie left to right)
Pull it snug and trim the tail to about 1/4”. When all is said and done the cuff will look like this on the inside:
And like this on the outside!
Totes invisible. (Even when stretched you can’t see the elastic on the outside. Fantastic!)
Hope you find great use for this, it really helps socks stay in place.