Little Feet

I think that even the most mundane items are cute in miniature. I recently knit my first pair of toe-up socks and it finally clicked that socks, at least plain un-patterned socks, are pretty formulaic. Since I had some left-over sock yarn I was inspired to just pick up some needles, cast on, and see if I could knit a tiny sock on the fly.

I used size 00 needles and about 3 grams of sock yarn (about 15 yds).

1. Cast on an even number of stitches, preferably divisible by 4 (since I like to use 4 needles, this works best for me - use your own judgment). I used this awesome cast-on from Knitty - Magic cast-on for toe-up socks. This leaves you with a nice smooth toe that looks like it was perfectly grafted, and with some practice is pretty easy to do. I double-up my needles to add a little "give" when I'm using this cast-on, since the first round can be a little awkward.
   

   

2. Setup row: follow the Magic cast-on directions and knit the stitches on needle 1 and needle 2.

   

3. Divide the stitches onto 4 needles for the first increase round. In my case, that's 2 stitches per needle.
   

   

4. Needle 1: k1, Inc 1 in next st, k to end of Needle 1. Needle 2: k until 2 sts remain on left needle. Inc 1 in next st, k1. Needle 3: k1, Inc 1 in next st, k to end of needle 3. Needle 4: k until 2 sts remain on left needle. Inc 1 in next st, k1.
   
5. K 1 row even.
   
6. Repeat the previous 2 steps until you have the desired number of stitches. I like to go with a multiple of 4 so the stitches divide evenly onto my needles. In my case, I cast on 8 stitches, so I'm going to increase until I have 24 stitches (6 per needle). If I had cast on 12 stitches, I would increase until I had 32 stitches. Just use your judgment and stop increasing when the toe looks good to you.
   

   

7. K in the round for about 20 rows, or until you are happy with the length of the foot.
   

   

8. Heel Shaping: Move the 6 st from needle 2 to needle 1 and set needle 2 aside. You will now work on 3 needles, with 12 st on Needle 1 and 6 st each on needles 3 and 4. You will be working back and forth on needle 1 only for the heel shaping. K to 1 st before end of needle 1 , turn, YO and p to 1 st before start of needle 1.
   
9. Turn, YO and k to 1 st before YO from previous row.
   
10. Turn, YO and p to 1 st before YO from previous row.
    
11. Repeat the previous 2 steps until 4 st remain (RS row). K to first YO.
    

    

12. Ssk, turn, sl first st, p to first YO on WS.
    
13. P2tog, turn, sl first st, k to first YO on RS.
    
14. Repeat the previous 2 steps until all heel stitches have been worked.
    
15. Attach Heel to Foot : Redistribute stitches on needle 1 to return to working with 4 needles (6 sts on each needle). K 1 row, picking up 1 st between the heel and the foot stitches at the end of needle2 and the end of needle 4. This will close the gap between the heel and foot stitches. K 1 round even (14 sts).
    
16. On the next round, k across needle 1, k to 2 sts before end of needle 2, k2tog, k across needle 3, k to 2 sts before end of needle 4, ssk. (12 sts).
    

    

17. K in the round for about 15 rows, or until you are happy with the length of the leg.
    

18. Ribbing: Work about 5 rows of k1, p1 ribbing and bind off loosely in pattern.

    

    You can use an i-cord to connect 2 mini-socks and hang them over your rear-view mirror, or you can attach an i-cord loop to make a really cute key chain, ornament, or gift wrap embellishment. Who wouldn't love a gift of hand-made socks with a little matching key chain?
    

    

    Seriously, how cute is that?