How do you measure socks when knitting? I’ve seen lots of tutorials that involve simply putting on the sock WIP and measuring it against your actual foot and I’ve seen lots of photos of very nice “sock rulers” that can be bought but not necessarily customized to your actual foot.
I typically take my knitting with me on my commute, so pulling off my shoes in order to try on an in-progress sock is not an option for me. Instead of buying a generic sock ruler, I decided to make one exactly customized for me:
You’ll need:
sturdy cardboard or posterboard
a pen or marker
a helpful friend or decent flexibility
an actual ruler
scissors
Now you can pull out your “foot” wherever you are and get a quick measurement! This works for both toe-up and cuff-down patterns, and also makes it easy to see the stitch pattern stretched out like it would be across the instep. If you make them for folks you frequently knit socks for, don’t forget to label them!
Do you have a foolproof method for measuring your socks? Tell me about it on comments!
The steps:
First, place your dominant foot on the cardboard and put weight on it. Have a friend trace the shape of your foot onto the cardboard. Cut out the foot shape (it’s fine and probably preferable to make the toes rounded like a mitten rather than have a scalloped edge).
Take your ruler and draw a line down the center (long-ways, from toe to heel), then add in ruler measurements. I went ahead and added notations for measurements I typically see in sock patterns, such as where to begin a fleegle/strong heel gusset, mini-gusset, short-row heel, or toe decreases. (Your specifics may vary - use whatever makes sense for the size of your foot and the types of sock patterns you normally knit!) I also added a measurement for ribbing on the arch of my foot. If you have modifications you find yourself making time after time, throw them on there!
