How to Knit Fishnets

Knitting fishnets for your daughter is a fun project.

Knitting fishnets is similar to knitting any other sock. The toe and heel are knitted in stockinette stitch to make a more solid fabric. Your toes won't poke through the fishnet and the heel will wear longer. Otherwise, the stockings are knitted in a simple pattern of "yarn over, knit two stitches together," until they are as long as you like. For this project, you must know how to cast on, increase and decrease, yarn over, knit and purl. Use fingering-weight yarn made from a sturdy fiber blend that includes nylon. You can easily create a toe-up sock that fits a medium woman's foot and leg, about size 7.

Things You'll Need

• Set of 5 double-pointed needles, size U.S. 3, 7 inches long
• 2 50-gram balls of fingering weight yarn, each is roughly 4 ounces
• Stitch marker
• Stitch holder

Instructions

Swatch and Toe

1. Cast on 40 stitches and knit back and forth for four inches in stockinette stitch. In stockinette stitch you knit one row and purl the next, repeating these two rows until the swatch is finished. Bind off the swatch. Wash it by hand, pat it into a square on a small towel and let it dry. Measure the number of stitches per inch in one of the rows near the center of the swatch. The gauge should be 7 1/2 stitches per inch. If your gauge is less, use smaller needles. If your gauge is more than 7 1/2 stitches per inch, use larger needles.

2. Make a slip knot about 10 inches from the end of your yarn. Put the slip knot on a double-pointed needle. Hold two double-pointed needles together in your right hand, side-by-side, with the needle with the slip knot at the top.

3. Hold the yarn and the tail in your left hand, so that the tail goes over your index finger, front to back, and the working yarn goes under your thumb, front to back. Hold both strands together with the remaining fingers.

4. Bring the tail yarn down under both needles and up around the bottom needle to the front, between both needles and out toward the back again. Then bring the working yarn up over the top needle, around to the front and between the two needles, front to back.

5. Repeat Step 4 until you have the required number of stitches, in this case 16 stitches divided over two needles so that each needle has eight stitches.

6. Drop the tail yarn. Turn the needles so that the working yarn is at the right end of the needles, and the loops are in front. On the back, you'll see a row of bumps between the two rows of loops.

7. Bring the working yarn to the back over your right or left index finger, depending on how you knit. Knit four stitches from the upper needle onto a third needle. Knit the remaining four stitches onto a fourth needle.

8. Turn the work so you can knit the remaining eight stitches. Knit the first four onto another needle. At this point, you should have four needles holding stitches and a fifth needle for knitting. Place a marker here. This will be the center back of the stocking.

9. Row 1: Knit three stitches, make one and knit the last stitch, so you have increased one. Call this needle #1.
   On the #2 needle, knit one stitch, make one stitch, and knit three stitches.
   On needle #3, knit three stitches, make one, and knit one stitch.
   On needle #4, knit one stitch, make one stitch, knit three stitches. Move the stitch marker to the right-hand needle.

   Row 2: Knit all stitches. You should have a total of 20 stitches. Move the marker to the right-hand needle.

10. Row 3: Knit to the last stitch on needle #1. Make one stitch, knit the remaining stitch.
    On needle #2, knit one stitch, make one stitch, knit the remaining stitches on the needle.
    On needle #3, knit to the last stitch, make one stitch, knit the remaining stitch.
    On needle #4 knit one stitch, make one stitch, knit the remaining stitches on the needle.
    Move the marker when you come to it.

    Row 4: Knit all stitches. You should have a total of 24 stitches. Move the marker to the right-hand needle.

    Repeat rows 3 and 4 until you have a total of 56 stitches.

Foot

1. Row 1: Yarn over, knit 2 stitches together. Repeat to the end of the row. Move the marker to the right-hand needle.

2. Row 2: Yarn over, knit 2 stitches together. Repeat to the end of the row. Move the marker to the right-hand needle.

3. Repeat these two rows until the foot fits from the toes to the ankle crease on the top of your foot. You should be able to slide your foot into the sock through the four needles without losing stitches off the needles. Being able to try on the socks as you knit them is part of the magic of socks knitted from the toe up.

Heel

1. Put all the stitches on needles #2 and #3 on a stitch holder. You'll be knitting back and forth for the heel.

2. Row 1: Knit 13 stitches on needle #1. Turn your work, leaving the last stitch of the previous row on the needle.
   Row 2: Purl 13 stitches on needles #1 and 13 stitches on #4. Turn your work, leaving the last stitch of the previous row on the needle.
   Row 3: Knit 25 stitches. Turn your work.
   Row 4: Purl 24 stitches. Turn your work.
   Row 5: Knit 23 stitches. Turn your work.
   Row 6: Purl 22 stitches. Turn your work.
   Row 7: Knit 21 stitches. Turn your work.
   Row 8: Purl 20 stitches. Turn your work.

   Continue until you have 10 active stitches in the center, and 9 inactive stitches at each end, finishing with a purl row. This will take 10 more rows.

3. Row 1: Knit 9 stitches, knit the last stitch together with the first inactive stitch. Make one stitch. Total: 11 active stitches. Turn your work.
   Row 2: Purl 10 stitches. Purl the remaining stitch together with the first inactive stitch. Make one stitch. Total: 12 active stitches. Turn your work.

   Continue repeating these two rows until you have 28 active stitches -- 14 on needle #1 and 14 on needle #4, ending with a purl row. Turn your work.

Leg

1. Begin working in the round again.
   Knit the stitches on needle #4. Move the marker to the right-hand needle.
   Yarn over, knit 2 stitches together, repeat these two stitches to the end of needle #1.
   Move the stitches on the stitch holder to needles #2 and #3, 14 stitches on each needle.
   Yarn over, knit 2 stitches together. Repeat these stitches across needles #2, #3 and #4. Move the marker to the right-hand needle.

2. Continue knitting these two stitches: yarn over, knit 2 stitches together until the leg is as long as you want it to be. This pattern is rather stretchy and should fit most legs.

3. Switch to knitting a rib stitch when the stocking is long enough. This means knit one stitch, purl one stitch and repeat these two stitches around the row. Continue in this pattern until the ribbed section is one inch high. Bind off with a loose stitch. Break off the yarn, leaving a tail of about 6 inches. Weave the tail through the ribbing to hide it. You may have to trim it a bit.

Tips & Warnings

• To make one stitch, put the tip of the right needle under the yarn between the two needles. Lift the yarn, twist it and put it on the left-hand needle. Knit the twisted loop to make a new stitch.

• If you want to add stitches to make a larger sock, always add stitches in multiples of four. The same is true for decreasing stitches to make a smaller sock. Decrease the number of stitches in multiples of four. For instance, if you want to make the sock an inch smaller in circumference, decrease 8 stitches, since the gauge is 7 1/2 stitches per inch but you need to decrease in multiples of four.

References

• Knitting Basics: All You Need to Know to Take Up Your Needles and Get Knitting; Betty Barnden
• The Complete Photo Guide to Knitting; Margaret Hubert

Resources

• Getting Started Knitting Socks; Ann Budd