Friday, February 28, 2014

Chair Socks - Basic Pattern

When I just moved in 2012. I wrote how crafting is home and I've shown that I'm knitting my lovely beechwood chair some socks. These are some good socks and they have surely worked hard for almost two years protecting my floors from scratching and my ears from noise and now came a time for them to be replaced.

So I have knit a new set of socks:

This is for size referece when not streched on a chair leg. Plus it looks so weird, like backward designed glove :D


As many people still arrive to this blog following a search for "chair socks" I decided to put my simple pattern here.

CHAIR SOCKS
(or should I say "furniture socks" as you can put this on tables, cupboards and couches with legs)

Needles: 4 steel DPNs size 2 mm
Yarn: leftovers from old knitted vest, frogged recently for recycling
Size: it depends on your gauge and choice of warn/needles (these fit snugly on legs with 5 cm diameter)
Type: simple, bottom-up

Cast on 9 following disappearing loop method (It would be 8 for pattern but since disappearing loop calls for odd number it is one more, hence 9, tug gently on the tail end to check if everything works and divide stitches onto 3 dpns, I prefer 2+2+4 (here 2+2+5 because of 9th stitch). Work in rounds.
1st row: knit
2nd row: kbf stitches 1-7, knit stitch 8 and 9 - this should give you 4+4+8 stitches total
3rd row: knit
4th row: knit
5th row: *kfb 1, k1* repeat to end of row - this should give you 6+6+12 stitches total
6th row: knit
rows 7-37: 1x1 rib (*k1, p1* all around)
Bind off loosely, but not  too lose so the sock will "hug" the leg nicely. I prefer to bind of simply, with purl stitches (just like following this tutorial, only purl-wise) because I like how purl bumps look as border.

Finish by weaving in firmly and invisibly all ends on the wrong side and give your chairs a makeover.



Obviously, you need to make as many socks as your chair/couch/table has legs (so it will not wobble) but when you finish up the first one try it on to make sure it fits. If it is too big try making one with less stitches (just remember there has to be even number to stay in pattern 1x1 rib) or adding up more stitches in 5th row (so all adding up will be done on the bottom, before sock needs to circle the circumference of the leg.



If you like, you can add some color by making it stripey, but if you decide on some small-scale fair isle take care to make it stretchy enough to fit the leg.

Enjoy!

4 comments:

Alli said...

I just popped over from Ravelry -- this is so smart! :D

derzafanistori said...

Thank you! Feel free to visit again ;)

AdaKnits said...

I just saw this pattern in Ravelry and it's surfaced at the perfect time. I'll be moving to a new house with hardwood floors (my first ever), and I was wondering about both the scratching and noise factors - so this is exactly what I will do! It's such a simple concept, but brilliant in its simplicity! Thanks so much!

derzafanistori said...

Thank you! :) Feel free to drop me a line when you finish them, I'd love to see how they turned out for you :) Also, I popped over to your blog and it is really great - looking forward to go through it when I catch a little time this weekend.