Ode to Top-down Socks

It’s been quite awhile since I wrote here, school has been crazy and I don’t have many photos to share. I thought instead I’d just write a bit, and tell of my love for top-down socks. 

I basically started knitting to knit socks. I was crocheting and wanted to make socks, but realized pretty quickly that it wouldn’t work that well. So I asked for help and learned to knit, and after making a dishcloth, I started my first sock. My first pair of socks was done toe-up, as my awesome knitting teacher showed me. I did a lot of reading and the benefits of toe-up seemed pretty great–ability to try them on, gauge foot length, use up all the yarn–so I didn’t think too much about top-down, though I did try that for my second pair. They went okay, but I screwed up a bit on the toe and refused to rip back, so they ended up a bit small. I knit a few more pairs toe-up, liking them, but getting a little sick of them by the time I hit the ribbing at the top, so I went back to top-down, to give it another try.

I tried Cookie A’s Monkey socks (still not quite done), and I realized how much nicer I thought they were. After several more pairs since I started those in June, I have realized at least somewhat why I like socks knit from the cuff down better. First, they feel faster. The slowest part of socks, for me at least, is the leg, when the pattern goes all the way around, instead of over half the stitches. Once the leg is done, the rest of the sock seems to fly. With toe up socks, the slowest part is at the end, which makes me feel like they go on forever. My second favorite part of top-down socks is the heels. I know a flap heel is possible on a toe-up sock, but I’ve never had much luck with them. I also don’t like guessing how much space the heel will take up on the foot, probably because I am often wrong. With top-down, I don’t have to worry about how much of the foot the heel will take, because the heel comes first. Also I love a nice traditional flap heel, fits me really well. The last reason, which is perhaps not a great one, is that there are currently more options for top-down socks, I guess because they’re more traditional. Most sock patterns I come across on Ravelry seem to be top-down, and I like having those choices. 

I know sock construction is a very contentious issue, but this is where I stand, at least for the foreseeable future. 

One pic for fun, my recently completely plain socks, knit from Opal Regenwald in Zorro