When you have selected the perfect sock yarn, you’re all set to start knitting. To cast on stitches for toe-up socks we use a method developed by Judy Becker called Judy’s Magic Cast-on. In the video tutorial I show you how it works and how to knit the first round.

Resources

Overview of materials needed for knitting socks

I use the following materials in the video tutorials

Scheepjes Our Tribe is available from Wool Warehouse (UK/Int), Love Crafts (USA), Caro’s Atelier (NL/EU) or your favorite Scheepjes Stockist.

Video Tutorial

In the cast-on video tutorial I show you how to do Judy’s Magic Cast-on and how to work the first round of stitches. At this point everything is still small and a little fiddly, but it does get better as you have more fabric on your needles.

Why Judy’s Magic Cast-on?

The cast-on developed by Judy Becker is great for starting toe-up socks because it creates a smooth, seamless toe without any visible cast-on edges or gaps. This technique is also very suitable for other projects worked in the round, like mittens, bags or top-down hats. The cast-on is completely invisible, creating a rounded, polished toe for socks and unlike knitting socks from the cuff down, no sewing is required. It’s really simple once you get the hang of it.

Pattern

Note that there are 3 instructions given in round brackets, these are for socks size (small, medium, large). Refer to the table below which sock size you need. The number given in square brackets is the total stitch count.

Start the toe of the sock with the solid color yarn and the circular needles.

Round 1 Cast on (20, 24, 28) stitches, this is (10, 12, 14) stitches per needle, using Judy’s Magic Cast-on.
[20, 24, 28]

Round 2 Knit all stitches on both needles.
[20, 24, 28]

How many stitches to cast on depends on the size of the sock you want to knit and your gauge. Socks have to be a smaller than your foot so that they stretch and fit nice and snug. With sock yarn, on 2.5mm needles and with an average gauge, a global reference guide is the following. Note that it can take knitting a few socks before you have found your personal magic combination in terms of needle size and number of stitches.

Size	European size	US size (women)	UK size (women)	Total number of stitches
small (S)	36 – 40	6 – 9	3 – 7	20
medium (M)	41 – 43	10 – 12	8 – 10	24
		US size (men)	UK size (men)
medium (M)	41 – 44	7 – 10	6 – 9	24
large (L)	45 – 50	11 – 16	10 – 15	28

At this point your work is still small and will look something like this.

#itsallinanutshell

If you are making something with one of my patterns or one of my videos, I would love to see your work. Use the hashtag #itsallinanutshell on Instagram to help me find it, share your work in my It’s all in a Nutshell Crochet Nuts group on Facebook or tag me in one of your posts.

With love,
Esther

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How to knit toe-up socks – Cast-on using Judy’s Magic Cast-on