How to Customize Rounded Sock Toes
Everyone’s feet are different, which is one of the reasons handmade socks are a perennial knitters’ favorite. Handknitted socks can be customized in so many ways: foot length, width, and shape can all be modified. However, not every sock pattern will tell you how to modify for that perfect fit. Roxanne Richardson is here to shares how to customize two of the most common sock toe types for three different types of feet. In the previous installment, we covered wedge-shaped toes. This time, Roxanne turns her attention to rounded sock toes and how to customize them.
Above: Two variations on round sock toes: Short (left) and long (right).
As a reminder, Roxanne is using her own feet and two friends’ feet as examples (Figure 1).
Roxanne’s foot (center) is average in toe shape and length. Helen has longer toes with a steep angle (right). Rosemary has shorter toes, with three of her toes nearly the same length (left). Helen needs a longer, more tapered sock toe. Rosemary needs a rounder, less tapered sock toe.
Customizing Round Sock Toes
This is another classic toe shape, with two versions: short and long. The round toe is not grafted closed. Stitches are decreased until just a few remain, then the yarn tail is drawn through the stitches, pulled snug, and fastened off, like the crown of a hat.
Related: Editors’ Picks: Favorite Interweave Socks
Short Version
To knit the round toe, you will need a multiple of 8 stitches. The toe is divided into equal sections with 8 stitches in each section. A 56-stitch sock will have 7 sections, a 64-stitch sock will have 8 sections, and a 72-stitch sock will have 9 sections. Each decrease round will eliminate one stitch in each section.
Here are the instructions:
- Rnd 1: *K6, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Rnds 2–3: Knit.
- Rnd 4: *K5, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Rnds 5–6: Knit.
- Rnd 7: *K4, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Rnds 8–9: Knit.
- Rnd 10: *K3, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Rnds 11–12: Knit.
- Rnd 13: *K2, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Rnds 14–15: Knit.
- Rnd 16: *K1, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Rnds 17–18: Knit.
- Rnd 19: *K2tog; rep from * to end of rnd. 1 stitch remains in each section.
Cut yarn and thread tail onto yarn needle. Draw tail through remaining stitches, pull snug, and fasten off.
Total length of shaping: 19 rounds ÷ 10.5 rounds per inch = 1.8”.
The round toe short version (Photo 1) would fit Rosemary well.
Long Version
For the longer version of the round toe, the number of plain rounds worked after each decrease round is equal to the number of knit stitches worked before each k2tog decrease, as follows:
- Dec Rnd 1: *K6, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Knit 6 rnds.
- Dec Rnd 2: *K5, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Knit 5 rnds.
- Dec Rnd 3: *K4, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Knit 4 rnds.
- Dec Rnd 4: *K3, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Knit 3 rnds
- Dec Rnd 5: *K2, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Knit 2 rnds.
- Dec Rnd 6: *K1, k2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
- Knit 1 rnd.
- Dec Rnd 7: *K2tog; rep from * to end of rnd.
Cut yarn and thread tail onto yarn needle. Draw tail through remaining stitches, pull snug, and fasten off.
Total length of shaping: 28 rounds ÷ 10.5 rounds per inch = 2.67”.
The round toe long version (Photo 2) would be a good fit for Helen. When my row gauge is tight, I often use this shape on socks for myself.
Try A Different Shape!
More than one toe shape can work for any given pair of feet. It’s worth experimenting with different sock toes, even if it’s only for your own knitting entertainment. I knit standard wedge toes for my daughter’s socks for years. Her feedback was always, “I have no complaints.” On a whim, I knit her a pair with a long round toe. They were barely on her feet when she said, “I like these better!” You too may find that you can do better than “good enough.”
Do you like to modify socks to fit your feet? Let us know what modifications you typically make in the comments.
Originally published in Interweave Knits Gifts 2022.
Roxanne Richardson is a certified master handknitter who lives, designs, and teaches in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Find her weekly videos on YouTube.
I would love to do toes like these, but I knit my socks from the toe up. From what I saw in the illustrations, doing this technique on toe-up socks would not look as good with the increases as it does with the decreases. I’m hoping that you will share a similar technique that would work for toe-up socks.