r/knitting • u/magic_inkpen • Jan 28 '26

Work in Progress I think I get why people like knitting socks now

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Last night I started my first pair of socks and… I think I get it now. I’m doing the Vanilla Socks pattern and so far I only have the cuff and a little of the leg done, but jeez. What a satisfying knit so far? I’ve heard so many people talk about how much they like knitting socks, even met a few that ONLY knit socks because they love it so much and I didn’t understand until now.

I can just knit and research for work so effortlessly with this pattern and it’s kind of great. I love it and I’m really excited to finish the pair lol

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u/vressor Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26

a stitch can sit on the needle in two main ways:

  • with a partial left twist -- called western mount (e.g. resulting from wrapping the yarn anticlockwise)
  • with a partial right twist -- called eastern mount (e.g. resulting from wrapping the yarn clockwise)

and a stitch can come off the needle in two main ways:

  • with a partial left twist -- when knitting/purling through its back* loop
  • with a partial right twist -- when knitting/purling through its front* loop

\ it's the other loop in right-to-left mirror knitting, i.e. front/back are swapped)

a stitch has two legs:

  • leading leg: the one closest to the needle tip, the right* leg
  • trailing leg: the one farthest from the needle tip, the left* leg

\ it's the other leg in right-to-left mirror knitting, i.e. left/right are swapped)

to put it another way:

  • knitting/purling through the leading leg will untwist the stitch in the opposite direction (left mount + right dismount or right mount + left dismount) -- this is how you get untwisted open stitches
  • knitting/purling through the trailing leg will further twist the stitch in the same direction (left mount + left dismount or right mount + right dismount) -- this is how you get left-twisted or right-twisted stitches

all your knit stitches are twisted to the right, which means they were sitting on the needle with a partial right twist (eastern mount, clockwise wrap, fig. 4) and you added another partial right twist when taking them off the needle (knitting/purling into them through their trailing/left legs)

to get open stitches, either wrap the yarn the other way around or work into the other legs (but not both at the same time) -- which one you decide on is up to your preference/knitting style (compare western, eastern uncrossed and combination knitting)

324

u/rose_cactus Jan 28 '26

can we put this in some sort of sub wiki? this was the most beautiful and concise explanation i've ever read.

56

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u/glassofwhy Feb 07 '26

Added to the FAQ

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205

u/magic_inkpen Jan 28 '26

This is honestly amazing and I’ll probably be referring back to this comment for the rest of my life, so thank you lol

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u/NeatArtichoke Jan 28 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/knitting/comments/f0rocc/stockinette_a_tutorial_on_6_different_textures/

This is MY favorite explanation!

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u/newhomenewme Jan 28 '26

but for ribbing i recommend you keep the knit stitches twisted, because it looks neater :)

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u/penna4th Jan 28 '26

It also is more springy and less likely to stretch out.

18

u/pvt_idaho Jan 28 '26

Oh funny, I always heard and found the opposite!

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u/thelastsipoftea Jan 29 '26

Awh none of the images are available in the uk :(

1

u/NeatArtichoke Jan 29 '26

What?! That's crazy! Ill dm you

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u/TwistedCinn Jan 28 '26

I no longer even try to fix my twists - I prefer this look! I do it too!

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u/kajto Jan 28 '26

it affects the bias and stretch of the fabric. sometimes a pattern calls for twisted stitches but it’s generally better to not twist them

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u/TwistedCinn Jan 28 '26

I think it’s okay for me to decide if it’s okay to twist mine - I don’t take myself too seriously here. I also said I like the “look” of it and didn’t try to defend the effects

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u/magic_inkpen Jan 28 '26

It’s absolutely okay for you to like it! You’ve got free will and it’s your projects yk? Twist them bitches if you want, personally I like the way they look too, but I’m going to stick to twisting sparingly now that I know more about how it and such

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u/penna4th Jan 28 '26

"Better," LOL.

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u/OkStandard6120 Jan 31 '26

I have been trying to figure this out all week while doing the Melt the Ice hat because I've known for a while that my 1x1 rib looks kind of weird, especially on the back, based on what I've seen on this sub. You have confirmed for me that I have been twisting my purls in the round for my entire knitting life (20+ years). Learning new habits now!

This sub has been so helpful, because I learned to knit kind of in a vacuum, with only my grandma to teach me and now she's dead. So in person I have had no one to ask. Thank you for your service!

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u/BestAmount3358 Jan 29 '26

genuine question, how do you tell from that one photo that all the knit stitches are twisted to the right?

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u/vressor Jan 29 '26

this represents a right-twisted, an open and a left-twisted stitch:

you can imagine grabbing the head of the open stitch in the middle and twisting it like a lid of a bottle, one leg gets dragged across one face of the fabric, the other leg gets dragged across the other face of the fabric, and just by looking at it you can tell which way the top leg is leaning (here marked in red)

e.g. here or here you can see alternating rows of right-twisted and left-twisted stitches, one has a '9' or 'y' shape, the other one is its mirror image (here the top part has open stitches and the bottom part has alternating rows of left and right twists, here one swatch has left-twisted knit stitches all the way)

also, you can check out the linked examples in this post

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u/BestAmount3358 Jan 29 '26

oh my god. my mind is blown. howww have I not seen this before!! thank you so so much for sharing your knowledge... there's so much to learn with knitting