knitting is a hereditary disease

Toe-up sock info roundup

Posted on 12/14/2007 by Andrea | Comments (2)
Filed under : Knitting, Tips

I need to finish a pair of toe-up socks (everything's done but the bind off, on both socks) and I'm tired of just trying to bind off loosely and deal with the non-stretchiness at the top of the cuff. I'm in search of a stretchy bind off that will be ideal for toe-up socks.

Most of these links were gotten from a Ravelry discussion in the Up With Toes group.

ChicKnits' favorite stretchy bind off. This looks easy. I'm tempted to try it.
Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn cast-off. This is supposed to be very stretchy, and supposed to not stretch out. It looks like a sort of tubular cast-off. Very tidy. It also looks sort of fidgety (I'm a fan of never needing to trade my knitting needles for a tapestry needle). But the results seem to be worth it.
Giant list of stretchy bind offs. This definitely looks worthy of some detailed exploration.

Also noteworthy are some new methods of casting on for toe-up socks, which I haven't tried yet. I always just use a crochet provisional cast-on, which yields good results but is a pain in the butt. Next time I make socks, I'll be trying these:

The Turkish Cast On looks like a fantastic alternative to a provisional cast-on.
Also the Magic Cast On.

Update:

Another resource chock full of interesting bind-offs: this Techniques with Theresa article in the Summer 2006 Knitty. There's a whole section of "particularly flexible bind-offs". The suspended bind-off looks interesting.