Speed Socks

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My husband suggested I knit these socks as a gift for a friend of ours, but he proposed a pretty tight turnaround time for when we should give him the present, so I had to knit these quickly.  I was able to crank them out in a month and a half, which doesn’t sound super fast, but I was also working on other projects along the way, so it really was quite speedy.

Just for funsies, here are my top tips for for knitting a pair of socks in a hurry:

• Pick a rib-based pattern that that’s easy to memorize; preferably one you have knit before. 
  • The familiar pattern and easy to memorize parts are pretty obvious; but picking a rib pattern is a sneaky little trick because the finished product is more forgiving in that it will stretch or shrink to fit where it needs to fit, meaning you don’t need perfect gauge (meaning you don’t really need to swatch…. wink, wink!)
• Use a larger needle than usual.  I usually knit with a 2.5mm, so when I’m in a hurry, I’ll bump it up to a 2.75mm.
  • The larger needle size makes the rows taller, which means they knit to length slightly faster; it’s a subtle difference, but every little bit counts.   Depending on the pattern, you may also be able to get away with knitting a size smaller than you normally would because you are using a larger needle (especially if you have selected a ribbed pattern as I suggested above).  This can be a real time-saver.
• Knit magic-loop style on pointy metal circular needles. 
  • I prefer knitting socks on wood dpns, but the yarn moves faster on metal than it does on wood, and magic loop means you only have to move needles twice per round instead of four times. Both of these factors add up to save a lot of time.
  • Bonus: If you like knitting on those tiny 9” circular needles, that would be even better, but I find them really uncomfortable on my wrists.

Finally, if you are speed-knitting these in order to give them as a gift, here is my crazy bonus tip:

• Choose a yarn that comes in two 50g balls and only knit the socks about three-quarters of the way through; put the live stitches on scrap yarn and don’t break the yarn from the balls.   
  • If you don’t meet your deadline to complete the pair of socks, you can gift two 3/4-finished socks and have the recipient try them on and tell you exactly how much further you should knit them to get a perfect fit!  See the brilliance here?  As far as the recipient knows, you intentionally left the socks partially finished so you can custom fit them.  This is 1,000-times better than giving the recipient just one completely finished sock. 😉  Of course, if you are set to knit them on schedule, then go ahead and put the stitches back on your needles and finish them up – you never broke the yarn so it’s easy to seamlessly pick up where you left off.

yarn details

Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in Prussian Heather
Fingering Weight
65% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon, 10% Donegal
Machine Washable/Tumble Dry Low
$6.49 per 50 g/231 yd skein purchased in June 2020

project details

pattern: “Simple Skyp Socks” by Adrienne Ku, free pattern, available to download on Ravelry
size knit: L (72 stitches); length to fit a men’s 9.5 shoe size
needles: US size 2 (2.75 mm), 47” nickel plated circular needles
gauge: ~8.5 stitches x 11 rows per inch in stockinette
yarn used: 1.58 balls = 365 yards (79 grams)
finished size: Top of cuff to bottom of heel flap: 8”; Back of heel flap to tip of toe: 11”
duration: June 24 – August 6, 2020

notes

• I used a 47” circular needle because that’s what I had handy, but a 30” would have been a better choice – that extra 17” of cable tends to get a bit fiddly.