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There are so many ways to knit socks! | Image source: Getty Images

KNITTING Sock knitting kd 8 Comments 2 min read

Toe Up or Top Down: Which Makes the Better Socks?

Sandi Rosner September 12, 2023
8 Comments
A variety of handknitted socks hanging on a line to dry

When you embark on knitting a pair of socks, one of the first decisions you must make is where to start. Will you knit your socks from the toe up or from the cuff down? Both methods can produce well-fitting, beautiful socks and both methods have ardent advocates. Let’s look at the pros and cons so you can decide which method is better for you.

Socks Knit from the Cuff Down

Limn Socks knitting pattern by Olya Mikesh
The Limn Socks by Olya Mikesh from Knits Fall 2021 are knit from the cuff down with beautiful stranded colorwork.

Pros:

✓

Cuff-down is the traditional method of making socks, so there are lots of great patterns available.

✓

If you’re designing your own socks (also known as “winging it”), you have more flexibility when working from the top down. Once you’ve established the stitch pattern on the leg, you can easily position the heel at any point around the sock tube, allowing you to continue a portion of the pattern down the top of the foot.

Cons:

✓

A tight, inelastic cast-on will spoil socks knit from the cuff down. The socks will never be comfortable if the cast-on edge is biting into your calves or ankles. Be sure you choose a cast-on method that creates lots of stretch, such as the Twisted German Cast-on or the Double Chain Cast-on.

✓

You’ll need to pick up stitches along the side of the heel flap. This isn’t difficult, but if picking up and knitting isn’t yet part of your knitting skill set, you might find it intimidating.

✓

The preferred method for finishing the toes of cuff-down socks is grafting, also known as Kitchener stitch. This is technique that any knitter can learn, and it gets much easier with practice.

✓

If your yarn supply is limited, you’ll need to either plan carefully or embrace the look of contrasting toes. I have big feet, and I have more than one pair of socks where the last inch of toe on one sock is knit with a different color because I ran out of yarn. If mismatched toes would make you twitch, consider this fair warning.

Socks Knit from the Toe Up

On Your Toes Socks knitting pattern by Ann Budd
On Your Toes Socks by Ann Budd from Knits Summer 2007—a classic pattern knit from the toe up.

Pros:

✓

No grafting and no picking up stitches.  For many knitters, this is reason enough to choose toe-up designs.

✓

There is less risk of losing a game of “yarn chicken”. Divide your yarn into two equal-sized balls (one for each sock) and end your socks when the yarn runs out.

Cons:

✓

For best results, begin your toe-up socks with a two-sided cast-on, such as Judy’s Magic Cast-on. This is a somewhat fiddly technique (but so worth it!) where it pays to spend some time practicing.

✓

If you are designing your own socks, you’ll need to plan any texture or color patterns carefully to ensure the design does not end awkwardly at the cuff.

✓

A tight bind-off on your toe-up socks will be a fatal flaw. Choose a bind-off technique that provides lots of stretch, such as the Icelandic Bind-off, the Italian Bind-off, or the Suspended Bind-off.

Which is Better?

I suspect most knitters tend to prefer whatever sock knitting method they learned first. But the only way to really know which method is better is to try them both. After all, why should you care which method is better for me? You want to know which method is better for you.

Here are some excellent sock knitting books with beautiful patterns knit both from the top up and from the top down. In addition, these books are jam-packed with the techniques you’ll need to become a sock-knitting master.

Click the arrows left and right below to explore:

Operation Sock Drawer book by The Knitmore Girls
Operation Sock Drawer by The Knitmore Girls

What’s my preference? I usually knit my socks from the cuff-down using double-pointed needles. And yes, that is the first method I learned. How do you knit your socks? Leave a comment and let me know!

Sandi Rosner is the technical content editor for all things yarn at Interweave. When she isn’t knitting, she usually has her nose in a book. You’ll find new technical content from Sandi nearly every week at www.interweave.com.

Note: This article contains affiliate links to products independently chosen by our editors. If you choose to purchase through our links, we may receive a small commission. Thank you!

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  1. Jeannette Cordell October 3, 2023

    After trying lots of different techniques, this is my sock “recipe”: toe up, two at a time, magic loop, Turkish cast on, rounded toe, Fleegle heel, sewn bind off. If doing contrast toe, heel, and cuff, I do the Shadow Wrap for the heel. I also usually do a slip stitch on the heels. If I see a sock pattern I like I can usually adapt it!

  2. Susan Stone October 3, 2023

    I very much prefer toe up socks, using the Turkish cast-on – it doesn’t get any simpler than that one, and my socks always turn out well that way. When I’m designing patterns, it’s easy enough to figure out how to make them fit the number of stitches I need, and to make the pattern work the same for when I’m doing the back of the leg. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried Kitchener stitch, and even with good tips for doing it, I’m still never happy with how it turns out.

  4. aimeeknits October 3, 2023

    I too am a double-point, cuff-down knitter! Sometimes I feel “old-fashioned” but I really don’t care for circular needles – I knit by propping my right needle in my lap (when using DPs, I pop a point protector on the back end of the right needle). Someday I’ll have one of the “knitting belts”!

  5. Margaret Pavlik October 3, 2023

    Toe up, two-at-a-time, is best — FOR ME. I started out knitting socks on double-points many years ago. I either didn’t get the second sock exactly the same size or never even started it — second sock syndrome. Now, I only knit them toe-up, taat, on a single circular kneedle. The socks turn out as close to identical as I can get them, and when I’m done, I’m done! I learned that method by watching a lovely lady on YouTube.

    1. Marie Bruemmer October 3, 2023

      I also knit socks top down. I use flexi-flips which I really like, for sock yarn sizes 0 to 3, and 2 circular needles for larger sizes. I learned on double points and hate them. Too fiddly.

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