If you are a sock knitter like I am then you probably have played around with different techniques such as top down, toe up, magic loop, 2 circulars etc and maybe you have also tried the 2 in 1. It’s been a while since I discovered this technique and found a pattern on Ravelry but I had yet to try it out myself. My problem is that I don’t like to do swatches, I just want to dive in and knit immediately and this seemed to be the sort of thing where a swatch or a test sock is IMPERATIF. And now that I have done the test myself I absolutely recommend that you first knit the training sock BEFORE actually knitting a real pair. The pattern I used was The War & Peace Socks: Two Socks in One by Kate Atherley and this pattern is available for free from Ravelry.
The instructions recommend using a rather thick yarn for this training version and to also use two different coloured yarns and that is a must I believe as you really have to remember which yarn is Y1 and which yarn is Y2. The beginning can be a little tricky until you understand that basically you are knitting two socks, one inside the other and that the right sides of the socks are facing each other. This means that the “outer” sock is knit by purling and the “inner” sock by knitting. This is the basic idea to grasp for this to be successful. Another thing that is very important when using this technique is to ALWAYS MOVE YOUR YARN AFTER EACH STITCH. Now this is time consuming I think and may slow down the process a bit and you may even find this bothersome but it is an absolute must, otherwise you will end up with one double layered sock and not 2 separate socks! I did make 2 errors when knitting my training version and at 2 different spots I must have forgotten to move my yarn and when I finished my socks and separated them I discovered that they were actually “joined” in 2 places. Luckily for me, in both cases this had just happened with 1 single stitch. So what I did, maybe not very orthodox, I cut the yarn to be able to separate them and then just made a knot. As these are sample socks that’s ok but when knitting a “real” pair you definitely want to be concentrated so this does not happen to you.
If you have not tried this technique yet then I recommend you do as it is rather fun and Kate’s pattern which is more of a template really gives you a number of possible sizes so once you’ve completed your training socks you can go ahead and make some for yourself. Here are some pictures I took of my training socks in progress to share with you and better explain the process.
Here you can see my 2 colours of yarn. For me Y1 was the brown/blue yarn and Y2 was the pink/brown yarn. This is why the outside is all purls 
Here you see how the 2 socks are actually separated on your knitting needle 
This is the heel flap
The turning of the heel
Here you clearly see the 2 separate socks and their gussets 
The gusset
Here I’m working on the foot
The toe is almost done
Here my toe is done and I have taken a darning needle to go into the remaining stitches of each sock – this is done individually for each sock of course
Here I’m about to separate them. My first mistake was in the ribbing and I don’t know if you can see it here but I had to cut the stitch and knot to separate them at the top and now I have to do the same thing at the toe
In both cases I cut the pink yarn and made knots as you can see
And here are my finished socks. Aren’t they cute (despite my 2 knots?) 
My conclusion is that this is a technique I’d like to master and last night I immediately went to dye some yarn for my first real socks knit this way. I really think it is SUPER important to have 2 different coloured yarns to begin with (at least) but I’m not a fan of wearing one blue and one red sock either so what I did was I dyed 2 skeins using the same colour only one was dyed darker and one lighter. This way the socks are not too far appart colour wise but the colour is still distinct enough for me to be able to knit my first real pair without tears (I hope).
As I don’t need 2 skeins for 1 pair I’m going to break them up into halves so there will be enough for 2 pairs like this. Would you like to try this technique using my yarn? Leave me a comment below and I will do a random draw and the lucky winner will receive 2 yarn cakes of my glimmer yarn (75% superwash merino, 20% nylon, 5% silver stellina) in Emerald green. There is a catch however:) I would ask the winner to accept to share her/his experience and photos of the finished socks on her/his blog or social media and allowing me to link to it here on the blog. So if you are willing to do that and up for a challenge then now’s the time to leave me your comment. You have until Tuesday March 3rd to leave me a comment and come Wednesday March 4th I will draw out a random winner from the comments and announce the lucky knitter here on the blog.
So I hope you are all up for the challenge, why not share with your other knitting friends after all, the more the merrier and sharing when trying a new technique is always helpful.
Good luck to all and have a wonderful and creative weekend 🙂
Welcome to Knitting in France 
How interesting technique ! I also use to knit both socks at the same time and now I am really curious about this method… I will try it as soon as I can! And, of course, I would love to do it with your lovely yarn 🙂
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Thank you for the comment and for reblogging the post 🙂
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Reblogged this on lazybene and commented:
Intersting socks contest ! I am in, and you?
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Oh my gosh, I love this, I have to try this, I’m going to try with some thick yarn first, fingers crossed
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hi hi 🙂 I’m happy I got you curious:) And yes some worsted weight yarn in 2 different colours would be perfect. Good luck and thanks for the comment 🙂
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I know what I am doing when I get home. Lol
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Good:) Looks like a crafty weekend then:) Thanks for your comment
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Have always wanted to try TAAT and this technique is awesome, would love to try it.
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Hi Teri, yes this is yet another technique and in stead of knitting 2 socks side by side this time you actually knit one sock inside of another one. Thank you for the comment 🙂
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This has been on my to-do list for a while. And I always thought the way to go was to do two different colors, figuring I would end up with two pairs of socks when I was done. Would love to try it with your yarn.
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Yes MJ you should try this technique if you like knitting socks. It really is fun. Thank you for your comment 🙂
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I’ve tried this technique once, about 15 years ago after reading about it in a magazine. If I remember correctly, I knitted my pair with the wrong sides facing each other, thus knitting the front/outer and purling the back/inner sock. Even though I usually (at least nowadays) purl looser than I knit, my outer test socks turned out larger than the inner one, so much that I never bothered trying to knit a normal size pair. New yarn could be a reason to try it again, would it be possible to choose another pattern than the one you used? /Kristina in Sweden.
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Yes of course Kristina. If you are the lucky winner and win my yarn, I would like to see and read about your process and if you happen to use a different pattern but using the same technique (2 in 1) then that is just fine. Thank you for your comment 🙂
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Having become a bit of a sockaholic I would love to enter your giveaway. I have already started a small demo pair of socks having realised that it would work on my short circular needles as long as I start top down. It isn’t as hard as I thought it might be. Your yarn looks lovely so I would love to win! 🙂
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Reblogged this on Rainbow Junkie and commented:
For all of you that like me enjoy knitting socks. Thought this was a great idea and a Giveaway too!
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Thank you for the comment and for sharing:) I’m trying to build up an audience for the blog so shares are a super good thing.
Happy to hear that you even started the test socks. Are you using Kate’s pattern as I did? I’m sure your 9″ will work nicely. I did my test socks on a 40″ circular using the Magic loop method.
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Being me I decided to plunge right in without a particular pattern. I started top down so I can check the socks are separate and I think I can work my normal short row heel. Not sure about how to do the toes with a short circular needle so I may have switch needles at that point.
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Has anyone else started their test/training socks ?
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I have not tried this technique but would love to try something to make knitting socks a little more challenging. I would also love to try using yarn from you. Thank you for this wonderful chance at a giveaway. Good luck to everyone.
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Yes this technique definitely is worth trying and what I’d like to know is, if it is possible to knit something other than plain socks. Maybe once I’ e gotten good a at knitting socks this way I can see if I mange to do some patterning
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This a really awesome technique. Thanks for sharing it with us, and introducing us to yet more options in knitting. I love knitting, and also sock knitting. 🙂 This will definitely prevent “second sock syndrome”.
Having a test knit is a must! Specially for this. 🙂
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Littleblackdogsa yes I highly recommend you do a test knit as that will help you understand the technique and I think that once you do, the rest is a rather smooth sailing:) If someone has done some test knitting already why not share your progress with us here 🙂
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