How to Weave a Sock With Yarn

Sock yarn works great for woven as well as knitted socks.

Lots of people knit socks with yarn, but it's also possible to weave a sock with yarn. If you are putting a warp on your loom for a scarf, you can put on some extra warp for a pair of handwoven socks. Merino superwash wool blended with nylon is often sold as sock yarn for knitting, but it's also perfect for hand weaving socks. Such socks make good house shoes and are thick and comfortable with your winter boots. If you know how to put a warp on a loom, and you have basic knowledge of weaving terminology, you should be able to make these woven socks.

Things You'll Need

• Loom
• Warping board
• Merino/nylon superwash sock yarn
• Shuttle
• Sewing pattern for fleece socks, such as Kwik Sew 2527
• Tracing paper
• Bias tape or other trim
• Sewing machine

Instructions

Planning the Socks

1. Trace your size from the fleece sock pattern onto tracing paper. Cut the pattern pieces out and then lay the pieces out to figure out how wide the finished woven fabric must be to accommodate the pieces. Your socks will be stretchier if you can lay them out on the bias of the fabric. Measure to see how much finished woven length you will need for the two socks also.

2. Wind the yarn around a ruler and count the number of wraps per inch. Divide by two to get the tabby or plain weave sett. The sett is the number of warp ends per inch. Add 50 percent to this number to get the twill sett. For example if the wraps per inch is 20, the tabby sett is 10 and the twill sett is 15. Twill is a good structure for socks, as it is stretchier than plain weave. You can find examples of twill drafts in a pattern book for hand weavers.

3. Add about 10 percent to the finished width of the warp to allow for take-up and slight shrinkage. Multiply this woven width by your sett. For example, if your woven width is 12 inches and the sett is 15 ends per inch, you will need to wind 180 ends.

4. Figure out the woven length of your piece by adding 10 percent to the finished length. Add 1 yard for warp waste on the loom, and add any other yardage you plan to weave such as a scarf, to get the number of yards to wind on your warping board.

Winding the Warp and Weaving

1. Wind the warp on the warping board and make a figure-eight cross at one end. Tie the cross, the ends of the warp, and the warp itself at 1 yard intervals, with shoestrings. Take the warp off the warping board and bring it to the loom. Pre-sley the warp by pulling four ends through every fourth dent in the reed. Put the reed in the beater and wind it onto the back beam. Take the reed and beater off the loom.

2. Thread the loom to a straight draw for plain twill, or to a fancier reversed twill or point twill from a pattern book. Sley the reed to the final sett by pulling one warp end through each dent in the reed. Tie the end of the warp to the front apron rod. Tighten the warp. Wind a rag shuttle with rag strips and weave a few inches of rag weft.

3. Wind a bobbin with the sock yarn and begin to weave the sock yardage. Continue in this manner until the back apron rod comes over the back beam. Cut the warp behind the heddles and pull the cloth off the cloth beam. Zigzag the fell (the weft edge) at both ends of the cloth.

Sewing the Socks

1. Pin the pattern pieces to the handwoven fabric. Cut them out carefully. Using a rotary cutter makes it easier to cut out loosely woven fabric. Transfer pattern markings to the pieces with a washable marker. Staystitch with a straight machine stitch around the edges of the cutout pieces, to prevent raveling, or you can spray the edges with Fray Check. (Do not zigzag to staystitch; this will stretch the pieces.)

2. Pin sock back to sock front right sides together. Stitch each side from the top edge of the sock to the dot, using an overlock machine, if you have one. If not, sew the seams with a narrow zigzag stitch and overcast the seam allowance with a wide zigzag stitch.

3. Pin sole to front and back, matching notches. Stitch the tow from dot to dot. Stitch the heel from dot to dot. Turn the sock right-side out and turn the top edge under. Stitch the top edge down to make a hem at the top of the sock.

Tips & Warnings

• For those who have just purchased a loom and are new to weaving, it's a good idea to look for a hand weaver's guild in your area. Weaving guilds exist in cities all over the country, and guild members can show you how to get started or refer you to classes. Find a guild through an Internet search, by perusing the ads in a hand weaving magazine or by attending local craft fairs and demonstrations where guild members demonstrate weaving to the public. Some universities have fiber departments that teach weaving.

References

• Weaving Today: Best Handwoven Socks; Maureen McGinnis Patterson; 2010

Resources

• "A Handweaver's Pattern Book"; Marguerite Porter Davison; 1990