If somebody had really, really, really skinny legs AND they also had really, really, really, wide feet (think wide as in webbed) how would you knit them a pair of socks?
If you have enough stitches for the feet then the cuff is just going to bunch up. But if you have only the stitches for the cuff then won’t it be too tight to get over their flippers feet?
I’ve been pondering this for quite some time. The feet described belong to my beloved husband. His dad has the same feet but the legs are just regular legs, not super skinny. I think of knitting socks for FIL as well but this little question has me stumped.
Here’s a suggestion – Figure out how many stitches you need to cover the wide feet. Cast on that many for the leg and do those stitches in ribbing. That way they’ll pull in to be snug around the skinny legs, but be wide enough for the feet. They may look bunched off the foot, but on the foot they should look just fine. If you need help with a pattern, let me know his foot measurement and I’ll be glad to do one for you if you need it.
I agree with Dorothy 100%! A rib is very forgiving! However, you can work the leg on whatever # of stitches you need then add some increases just befor the heel to accomodate the wide foot (this assumes you knit top down which I believe you do!)
I have the opposite problem….VERY fluffy calves, moderately fluffy feet so I knit the leg to whatever specs I need then decrease as needed befor starting the heel. If you do toe ups, just reverse the process!
Or you could just feed him cake until his skinny legs fill out.
Seriously, I’d consider doing them toe up, you can try them on him as you go that way, and make sure they will fit.
i would consider it a two part problem, cast on and do the leg, turn the heel and then try them on the foot to make test how many to decrease. there is no hard and fast rule that the number of stitches around the foot has to equal the number of stitches for the let. your socks on the previous post are very beautiful.
you can always knit the yarn in a more forgiving i.e. stretchy yarn like Regia Stretch or the Mega boot stretch. The lycra in the yarn gives a good fit w/o bunching