When knitting traditional Socks, one typically starts at the cuff and works down. This has the advantage of being fairly straight forward, as one needs only to Cast on as usual and knit In the round. However, when creating socks this way, it is not possible to test the fitting of the sock as the work progresses.
Knitting toe-up alleviates this problem. To begin, one must create the Toe. This can be done using a variety of methods:
- Pick-up Toe
- Short Row Toe
- Figure-Eight Toe
- Easy Toe
Once the toe is created, one knits in the round, gradually increasing until the desired size is reached. The Foot is then knitted, followed by Gussett increases. Next, the heel must be created, typically by reversing a standard method such as the Dutch Heel or French Heel. Finally, the leg is knitted until the desired length is reached.