Vanilla socks, also called ‘regular socks’ are the easiest to knit! You knit them with the straight stitch, also called stockinette stitch. In this pattern I will explain to you step by step how to knit these basic socks. Even if you have never knitted socks before, you will succeed with the instructions below! In this example, knitting on 4 needles is used. In this pattern size 38 is used! Use the number of stitches you need according to the knitting chart!

You need: Sock yarn*

• at least 100 g/360 - 400 mtr = needle size 2.5 mm
• or 100 g/200-300 mtr = needle size 3.5 mm - 4 mm 5 double-pointed knitting needles our circular knitting needle 2.5 mm, or 3.5 mm for a slightly thicker wool Possibly stitch markers

Required techniques
Stockinette stitch/knit, purl, decrease stitches.

Sock yarn
Sock wool can be found in many shapes and types. Most wool socks contain nylon, because this makes the yarn stronger and therefore your sock will last longer. For example, yarns such as Opal and Regia. Are you not a fan of nylon and other synthetic materials, and would you like to be sustainable? That is also possible! There is sock wool that does not contain nylon, such as the yarn from Onion and Novita.

the knitting chart in this pattern describes exactly how many sts to knit for each thickness of sock yarn.

The knitting needles
Socks are usually knitted on 5 sock needles of 15 cm long. You can also knit them on circular needles. But to start with, I find it more convenient to do this on 5 needles. Sounds complicated, but it’s not that bad! The sock is on 4 needles, of which the 5th is your knitting needle. And this is how you knit in the round.

Where do you start?
Socks are generally knitted from the cuf to the toe. This is the oldest method and most used in the Western world. Nowadays you see a lot more people starting from the toe. This method comes from the Eastern world and has quickly conquered the sock knitting world, the so-called toe-up sock method.

In this pattern we are going to start from the cuf down.

These are the parts that are involved in knitting a sock. And once you get started knitting, it’s not that hard!

The rib
The leg
The heel flap
The heel turn
Gusset
The foot
The toe