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I thought I’d write a quick post to share one of my favorite knitting tools with you. It’s called a Sock Ruler and you can get one on Etsy (just search for Sock Ruler) or Amazon (check out the 3-pack!). This is one of those knitting tools that I can’t imagine how I ever functioned without it – it’s so simple, yet so brilliant!
To use your sock ruler, just figure out how long you want your sock to be, then subtract how long your toe will be, then pop the curved end of the ruler into the heel of the sock and knit until you hit the magic number and start your toe. (If you want to get super clever, you can put a little piece of washi tape on the ruler where you started the toe on the first sock so you remember that measurement for the second sock – like I’ve done on the picture above.)
How Long Will Your Toe Be?
If you need help with the mathy parts of using the ruler to get a perfect foot length, I’ll explain it below. If math isn’t your thing, then you’ll definitely want to check out my free Magic Toe Calculator that does all the stuff I’m about to describe:
To figure out how long your toe will be, just count how many rows it will take you to do the toe decreases. Eg. If you decrease from 64 stitches to 20 stitches that’s 44 stitches you need to decrease. Each decrease rounds removes 4 stitches, so divide 44 by 4 and you know you will need to knit 11 decrease rounds.
If you decrease every other row on your toe, then you’re looking at a 22 row toe. I like a round toe, so I typically decrease every other row until I have 40 stitches on the needles, then every row until I have 20. So that would be 6 decrease rows done every other round, and 5 decrease rows done every round, which is 17 rows for my favorite toe shape.
Now measure your row gauge for 1” in stockinette – for me, that’s usually about 11 rows per inch with my favorite brand of sock yarn on my favorite 2.5mm needles. Divide the number of rows needed for your toe by your number of rows per inch. That comes out to 2” for a pointier toe (22/11) or 1.5” for a rounder toe (17/11).
How Long Should the Foot of Your Finished Sock Be?
Option A: Use a foot length chart like this one to select a foot length based on a shoe size. In that chart, I’d ignore the suggestion for how long the toe should be on this chart and just consult the last column – total foot length. This chart is made by fellow knitter and I used to use it all the time before I switched to Option B.
Option B: Use the foot measurement from a shoe size chart and subtract 3% for negative ease. I’ve pre-programmed some sizes into Pepper’s Magic Toe calculator using this formula and there is a section inside it where you can calculate a good sock length based on any shoe size.
Option C: Take an actual measurement of the person’s foot. 😉
OK, that post was a little longer than I intended for it to be. And there was math. Sorry about that! But, seriously, get a sock ruler and get mathy with your bad self. You’ll be happier for it.
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