How long does it take to knit a pair of socks?

Earlier this year a friend asked how long it takes me to knit a pair of socks? Obviously, it depends on several factors: the size of sock, the thickness of the yarn, how much free time I have, whether the sock is plain or is significantly more involved than vanilla, and let’s be honest, how much I’m enjoying the project! A pair of baby socks might take me a couple of evenings, likewise some adult socks in aran weight yarn, while a pair of vanilla socks will generally take me between two weeks and a month. Once in a while I’ll fall in love with a project, and will whizz through it, abandoning all other tasks to get them finished. That happened with my Three Sirens Socks and I knitted them in under four days, even though they are relatively large (UK size 9.5), and have patterning all down the front of the sock. Some socks linger for months or even years, usually if I’ve made an error and don’t feel like fixing them, or can’t quite remember what had gone wrong with them. 

Three Sirens Socks

To try and get a more general answer to the question, I ran a poll in my Instagram stories to see how long it took other people to knit a pair of socks, and here’s what I found: 9% of respondents took 1 week or less; 36% took 1-2 weeks; another 35% took 2 weeks to a month; while the remaining 19% took longer than a month. From that, I learnt that most people take somewhere between a week and a month to knit a pair of socks.

Does that answer the question though? Different people have different amounts of free time. Maybe the people who take less than a week to knit a sock are knitting for 4 hours a day, while those who take a month only knit for half an hour a day. So I asked myself, how many HOURS does it take to knit a pair of socks? The easiest way to answer the question was to time myself knitting a sock…

I cast on a standard-for-me sock: 64 sts, 2 mm needles (I knit loosely – I get 32 sts to 10 cm on 2 mm needles), UK size 9 (approximately 26.5 cm foot length) in West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply in the colourway Sherbet Fizz (I think this colourway is discontinued, current colourways can be found here*), and timed each knitting session as I created a top-down, heel-flap-and-gusset sock.

How long did it take me to knit the pair? I confess I only timed the first sock, but that took 7 hours and 33 minutes, not including any time needed to wind yarn or block the sock, but I did include weaving in the ends. Which gives a total of 15 hours and 6 minutes for a complete pair.

I do knit quite fast, so it’s entirely possible that you might take longer to knit a pair, or maybe you’re super-speedy and take far less time. But it did show me that at a rate of an hour a day it wouldn’t take me more than about 2 weeks to knit a pair of vanilla socks, or a month at half an hour a day. I should definitely factor this in when planning gift knitting – I always leave it until the last minute and wonder why it’s a frantic hurry to finish the second sock.

Have you ever timed how long it takes to knit a pair of socks? Were you faster or slower?

*Affiliate link.

Judy’s Magic Cast-On - the perfect way to start toe-up socks

Judy’s Magic Cast-On is my favourite cast-on method for knitting socks from the toe-up. It’s invisible from both the inside and the outside of the sock, and once you’ve done it a few times, it’ll be second nature to you.

You can work Judy’s Magic Cast-On using double-pointed needles (DPNs) or the magic loop technique. In the example, I use magic loop on a long circular needle.

 

Casting on

1. Hold two needle tips parallel to one another with the working tips pointing to the left.

2. Loop the yarn over the bottom needle, with the yarn tail (at least 30 cm, see Tips and Tricks section at the end for guidance) at the front of the needles and the yarn going to the ball at the back of the needles.

3. Crossing the yarn tail and the working yarn, wrap the working yarn over the top needle to create a stitch on the top needle.

4. Crossing the yarn tail and the working yarn, wrap the yarn tail round the bottom needle to create a stitch on the bottom needle.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have the required number of stitches on each needle. Looking at the back of your stitches, you should see a row of purl bumps.

Working the first round

1. Using the working yarn, knit the stitches on the first needle *through the back loop* - this untwists the stitches across the cast on edge. Note, most knitters find that they need to knit the first half of their stitches cast on using Judy’s Magic cast-on through the backs of the loops to untwist them, but you may not need to; if the first half of your stitches are not twisted, knit them as usual, not through the backs of the loops.

2. Knit the stitches on the second needle. You have completed your first round! Well done.

 

Tips and tricks

How long should your yarn tail be?

The length of yarn you leave as a yarn tail depends on how many stitches you are casting on. A simple rule is to have 2.5 cm (1 in) of yarn per stitch you’ll be casting on using the yarn tail (remember that only half the total number of stitches will be cast on using the yarn tail, the rest will come from the working yarn), plus 15 cm (6 in). If you want to be more accurate, take your yarn and your needles, leave a 15 cm (6 in) tail, then wrap the yarn around your needle tip once for each stitch. This should show you roughly how much yarn you’ll need for your cast-on.

 

Marking the start of the round

Once you’ve worked the first couple of rounds, you can use your yarn tail as a beginning of round marker. At the start of the round, simply take your yarn tail and pass it between the needle tips so it sticks out the side of your knitting. Knit as normal and the yarn tail will remind you which side of your knitting is the beginning of the round.

 

When you’ve finished knitting and no longer need the beginning of round marker, turn your knitting inside out, grab the vertical strand of yarn, and pull it back to the inside of the knitting.

 

What next?

Ready to try a pattern that uses Judy’s Magic Cast-On? Why not try:

• Little Pine Cone Socks (launching October 1st)*
• Seed Head Socks*
• Contorto Socks*
  

Judy’s Magic Cast-On isn’t just for socks, it can be used for any double-sided knitting where you want an invisible cast-on, e.g. Elephant Parade* and Fantastical Foxes Set* – Judy’s Magic Cast-On is used to cast on the ears.

 *Ravelry link, may cause issues for people with photosensitivity. Proceed with caution. For alternative places to buy, check out my shop section.

How to work German Short Rows

Short rows are used to create extra wedges of fabric within your knitting, and can be used for everything from sock heels to bust darts. A short row is exactly what it sounds like: you turn your work part way through a row, then work over only a portion of the row. If you just turn your work mid-row, you’ll get a hole, but if you use German Short Rows, you can close those holes up as you work, and your short rows will be seamless.

Want to know how to work German Short Rows? Keep reading…

 

Working German Short Rows on a RS row

1. Knit to the point where you want to work the German Short Row.

2. Knit 1 stitch.

3. Slip the stitch from the right needle to the left.

4. Bring the yarn to the front OVER the needle to create the double stitch.

5. Turn.

6. Bring the yarn to the front between the needles.

Working German Short Rows on a WS row

1. Purl to the point where you want to work the German Short Row.

 

2. Purl 1 stitch.

3. Take the yarn to the back of the work between the needles.

4. Slip the stitch from the right needle to the left.

5. Bring the yarn to the front OVER the needle to create the double stitch.

6. Turn.

 

How to work the double stitches

On a RS row

1. Knit to the double stitch.

 

2. Knit the double stitch picking up both loops and working them as one.

What it looks like from the right side.

 

On a WS row

1. Purl to the double stitch.

 

2. Purl the double stitch picking up both loops and working them as one.

What it looks like from the right side.

What next?

Ready to try a pattern that uses German Short Rows? Why not try:

• Little Pine Cone Socks* (launching October 1st!)

*Ravelry link, may cause issues for people with photosensitivity. Proceed with caution. For alternative places to buy, check out my shop section.