Sock Anatomy

How many different sections form a whole sock?

For these socks, L knitted each part with a different color. The resultant rainbow is both beautiful and an excellent look at what exactly makes up a sock.

Starting at the top, there is a dark yellow cuff hugging the ankle. This cuff is followed by a dark green leg.

Below the green leg is where things really get interesting. The burgundy heel flap leads directly into the light yellow heel turning. Heel turning is notorious for its supposed difficulty. However, you shouldn't be frightened by it. Remember two very important things. 1. Many, many people have done this before and lived. 2. You're knitting - anything you do can always be undone and the fate of the world is not dependent on your sock being completed before midnight.

Unless it is a very special sock.


After the heel turning, some magic happens and that heel turning, heel flap, and leg get connected to the orange portion, which is known as the gusset. The gusset leads into the blue foot of the sock. The final section is known as the toe. The last two sections of the sock are my favorite, mostly because I can remember what they are called.

In the end, all of the segments come together to form a harmonious whole. Isn't it the cutest little sock?

Just Barely

L finished the pair of socks. I really love the pattern on these ones. L wears them all the time.

The sox yarn knits up very well. The socks are lovely and quite wearable.

The last few inches of the second sock were very intense for L. She vacillated constantly about whether or not she would have enough yarn to complete it.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the sock now has a companion and can relax in the comfort and security of belonging to a pair. In the picture above, you can see that it was a very close thing. There was only a short strand of yarn remaining.

Best Foot Forward

L has begun another pair of socks, still using the same skein of Bernat sox yarn. The most exciting part of this sock adventure is that there is some doubt about whether there is enough yarn left to complete the pair.

If the sun hadn't been shining so brightly, you could see in the pictures below that the finished sock and the unknitted yarn have the exact same weight.


L is using the pattern, Best Foot Forward, from 'Knit Socks!' by Betsy Lee McCarthy. She adjusted this pattern by making it slightly smaller than the original and with a shorter leg length. Hopefully, these adjustments will allow her to finish the pair, and not leave a lonely sock doomed to wander the world alone.