Learn How to Knit Toe-Up, 2-at-a-Time, Spiral Rib Tube Socks

An easy, efficient way to knit socks for charity & gift-giving

Are you ready to start knitting socks?

Let’s get right to it!

This is your printed guide to my new free sock knitting class, where you’ll learn to knit toe-up, two-at-a-time, spiral rib tube socks using Magic Loop.

Just to let you know, I did not invent spiral rib tube socks. You’ll find many variations to this pattern, including this one I’m basing this class on. You can find many more on Ravelry.

If you don’t like the way I’ve written out this process, you may find one of the preceding links useful.

Learn about this sock knitting class, including the materials you’ll need, in the introductory video below.

Casting on

To cast on, we’re going to use the Turkish cast on. This is an easy way for us to start at the toes and build the sock upwards from there.

1. Hold your circular needle tips together and point them to the right. Make a slip knot with one ball of yarn and place it on the lower needle tip.
2. Wrap your yarn up the back of the needles and down to the front. Do this for half as many stitches as you need. We’ll be starting with 8 stitches, so you’ll do this 4 times. Don’t count the slip knot as a stitch.
3. Take your yarn end and tuck it between the top and bottom needles. This secures the yarn while you cast on for the second sock.
4. Repeat this process with your other ball of yarn for your second sock.
5. Carefully pull your top needle tip away from the yarn. Swing the needle tip towards the loops and carefully knit each stitch through the back loop. When you reach the slip knot, skip it, but keep it on the needle for now.
6. Grasp the needle tip with the live stitches and pull the cable so that the other needle tip slides into place for the loops on the other side. Then pull the needle tip with the live stitches out so you can knit the stitches on the other needle tip.
7. Knit the stitches on the other needle tip.

At this point, it’s a good idea to either poke your yarn tail to the wrong side (the purl bump side) or place a clasping stitch marker at the slip knot, so you can keep track of which side of the stitches is the beginning of the round.

Note: From round 2 on, it’s a good idea to knit the first and last stitch of each needle tip through the back loop. This will help tighten the stitches together and prevent laddering.

Need to see this in action? Take a look at the video below.

Knit the Toes

Round 1: Knit into the front and back (Kf&b) of each stitch – except the slip knot. When you reach the slip knot, drop it from the needle. (You can pull the slip knot out or leave it – it really doesn’t matter!) The slip knot will be in between the front of the round and the back. At the end of this round, you’ll have 16 stitches.

Round 2: Knit.

Round 3: On each needle: *Kf&b, K3, place marker (PM); repeat from * to end.

Round 4: Knit.

Round 5: On each needle: *Kf&b, knit to marker, slip marker (SM); repeat from * to end.

Round 6: Knit.

Repeat rounds 5 and 6 until the toes of the sock are approximately 3 inches / 7.5 cm across one needle and the total stitch count is divisible by 6.

(For fingering weight yarn, this will be 60 stitches total; the count may vary with your yarn weight. In the video above, you’ll see that for me worsted weight came out to 48 stitches and was 3.5 inches across.)

Knit the Body of the Sock

Now, you’ll begin rounds of spiral rib stitch.

Rounds 7 through 12: *K3, P3, repeat from * to end of round.

Rounds 13 through 18: P1, *K3, P3, repeat from * to 2 stitches before end of round, P2.

Rounds 19 through 24: P2, *K3, P3, repeat from * to 1 stitch before end of round, P1.

Rounds 25 through 30: *P3, K3, repeat from * to end of round.

Rounds 31 through 36: K1, *P3, K3, repeat from * to 2 stitches before end of round, K2.

Rounds 37 through 42: K2, *P3, K3, repeat from * to 1 stitch before end of round, K1.

One set of this is a full set of spiral rib stitch. Once you’ve finished round 42, you’ll go right back to round 7.

Continue repeating rounds 7 to 42 until you’ve reached about 18 inches, ending with either round 12 or round 30, if possible.

Bind off using Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off; weave in ends.

And that’s it!

This post is, for now, a work in progress. I’ll be adding videos, offering tips, and answering questions along the way as we go through the class.

By the way, this class is free for now, but it may go on sale in the future. At the present, though, I hope you’ll enjoy this process and get excited about knitting socks for people in need – as well as gifts for the people you love.