Socktember 2026

Is it September?  No … it’s SOCKTEMBER!

September always feel like a new start kind of month for me.  It’ll be ingrained through years of “back to school” whether for me when I was younger or for my girls when they were at school, or maybe the season starting to turn again and the change in the air – but whatever it is, September has always felt like the time to start something new.  New books, new courses, new routines … this is the time of year when I feel ready to embrace a new start before the nights start to draw in and the winter approaches.

This year, I want to embrace all of that through Winwick Mum and I’m bringing that whole new start to the blog for the whole of the month – for socks, at least!  Interested?  Let me tell you more!

What is Socktember?

It’s a month-long celebration of socks right here on the Winwick Mum blog.  It may not come as a surprise to hear that I LOVE socks, and I love helping people to knit them, whatever stage of the process someone is at.  Socktember is an opportunity for you to embrace the “new start” with me and pick up your knitting needles – it doesn’t matter if it’s for the first time if you’ve been waiting for the end of summer to learn something new, or whether it’s a reconnection with something you’re already knitting – or a new pattern to try out.  I’ve got it all this month!

A new pattern too?  Oh yes!  There’s a brand new pattern for Socktember called September Socks and the socks have their own pattern page which you can find here: September Socks   Don’t zoom off straight away – read on for more about Socktember first!

 

How does Socktember work?

I’m going for the “no sock knitter left behind” theme this month so if you’re raring to get socks on your needles, I’m right there with you!

Now that the summer is coming to an end and you’ve brushed the sand from your toes, unpacked your suitcase, packed your little (or not so little) ones off to school or university – or started to feel the warmer weather returning if you’re in the southern hemisphere – it’s time to turn your attention to something for you.

Socktember is all about picking up the sock needles – much like the Winter Haven KAL, but without the focus on recharging after the Christmas and holiday period because we’re just getting started in the run up to that.  Too soon to think about Christmas or festive holidays?  Actually, it’s not – there are 16 weeks to Christmas from this Friday so if you’ve got plans for gifting then you really need to be thinking about making a start if you’ve not done so already!

To keep you on track, I’m running a Socktember Knit-along (KAL) and it’s going to have two sections so that everyone can be involved:

💜  Sock knitting beginners – get started with the Basic 4ply Socks and the Winwick Mum Sockalong tutorials, and aim to finish your first pair by the end of September, sorry Socktember.

💜 Experienced sock knitters – join in by knitting the September Socks pattern and have a new pair finished for your sock drawer or your gift pile by the end of the month.

There’s going to be a prize draw for all finished Basic 4ply and September Socks knitted during Socktember – after all, why shouldn’t we celebrate this month of socks with prizes to celebrate the socks themselves?

 

How do I enter the prize Socktember KAL (Knit-along)?

I’m going to do something different this time and run the knit-along on Ravelry in the Winwick Mum group.  I know that not everyone uses Ravelry but after a lot of consideration, I’ve decided that it’s better than asking people to use social media at a time when a lot of people are trying to use it less.  There aren’t any ads or suggested posts, and you get to see everything, not what an algorithm thinks you should see.  If you haven’t used it before, it’s a really useful database for storing your own knitting projects and searching for new patterns as well as having a strong community forum network.  As far as running a Knit-along goes, it doesn’t involve setting up any new platforms, it’s free and I thought it was worth a go!

I’ve updated the Winwick Mum Ravelry group recently to be more helpful for pattern questions so you’ll see all the patterns listed as well as the Socktember posts.  Because each of the comments in a post are numbered, it makes it easier for everyone to see finished projects and for me to run the draw.  There will be two posts for each strand of the Knit-along – a chat post for the Socktember Basic 4ply Socks and for the September Socks, and a no-chat finished projects post for each.  I’ve got the details on the Ravelry posts to remind you.

Don’t worry if you don’t use Ravelry – you can email me your finished photos and I’ll be sure to add them to the post so that you get included in the draw.

There’s no obligation to chat in the Ravelry groups either; I’ve created the threads as an option in case you don’t use Facebook.  There are two very busy Winwick Mum groups on Facebook – Winwick Mum Sockalong for help with the Basic 4ply Socks and Winwick Mum Knit n Natter for chat about everything that’s not the Basic 4ply Socks pattern – and I don’t want to discourage any Socktember chat there, but the KAL (Knit-along) prize posts will be on Ravelry only.

However, that’s not all!

Socktember is also for those who intend to knit socks as gifts for the end of the year.  Lots of people start very early in the year so that they will be ready long before the socks are needed; others like the challenge of the race against time and will start a bit later.  Others forget that hand knitted socks do take a bit longer than a few hours to knit (for most people) and it’s not uncommon for me to see posts in the Facebook groups about knitting several pairs with less than a week to go and the person hasn’t even cast on yet …

Socktember is your reminder that you really should be thinking about gift knitting now!

 

How to take part in Socktember?

It’s really simple!

💜  Start your pair of Basic 4ply Socks – you can check out the Winwick Mum Sockalong tutorials for the Basic 4ply Socks pattern and step-by-step help.  The Basic 4ply Socks pattern and Sockalong tutorials are free to use, and if you prefer a paperback version of the tutorials with the Basic 4ply and Basic 6ply Socks patterns included, that’s available as Super Socks – more info here: Super Socks book

💜  Knit a pair of September Socks – you can find the pattern here: September Socks  There’s a 15% discount for the first week of Socktember using code SEPTEMBER (runs from 1-8 September 2026) and a special discount for email subscribers, so do check your spam folders if you’ve not had that!  The discount codes can be used in the blog shop, on Ravelry and Payhip but cannot be used at Wool Warehouse.

💜  Upload photos of your finished socks to the Ravelry posts – either the Basic 4ply Socks post or the September Socks post – by the end of the day 30 September 2026.  Don’t worry about time zones, I’ll work those out 🙂 

You can find the Winwick Mum Ravelry group here: Winwick Mum and you’ll see the posts for chat and for finished socks – your photos need to go in the finished post to be entered into the draw.  You can link your photos for free from your Ravelry notebook project page, and if you’re not on Ravelry you can email me at hello (at) winwickmum.co.uk and I’ll upload your photo for you.  That way, every pair of socks gets a numbered line on the thread and nobody gets left out of the draw.

I will post the results of the two prize draws as soon as I can after the closing date.  Even if you don’t want to enter the Knit-along or the draw, it will help me massively if you’re a Ravelry user and you’re able to add your Basic 4ply Socks or September Socks to your project pages or favourite the patterns as that moves them closer to the first pages of the search so that other people can find them them – thank you! 

Feel free to chat in the Ravelry group or the Facebook groups during Socktember – we’ve actually got more options to chat now, which is great!

 

💜 Gift knitting – no prizes for this, I’m afraid, but there is a 15% discount on the Christmas and Holiday Gift Socks Knitting Guides which will run for the first week of Socktember.  No code is needed for the discount which runs from 1-8 September 2026.  The Gift Socks Knitting Guides help you to decide exactly who you’re knitting for (because we knitters are a generous lot and sometimes overstretch ourselves) and to plan your time so that you’re not knitting against the clock.  There are also sock labels and an IOU letter (just in case!) included so you can gift your socks (or not) in style!

What else happens in Socktember?

Well, just like the Winter Haven KAL, I’d like to make sure we all stay connected during the Knit-along.  My weekly posts will have updates on how you’re doing so feel free to share your photos on Ravelry, Facebook and by email to me.  I will assume that by sharing your photos in the Winwick Mum groups I have your permission to share them in the blog posts, so please either get in touch to let me know or don’t share your photos if you don’t want me to do that.

I’m also going to post Sock of the Day posts during the month to show you some of my other sock patterns because there are more Winwick Mum patterns than just the Basic 4ply Socks pattern!   I’ve designed nearly 100 patterns now – the Winwick Mum ones are right here on the blog (have a look at the Patterns and Printables page to see), over 30 of them are for West Yorkshire Spinners and there are a few out in the world as commissions – that’s a lot of choice for building confidence and skills.  Obviously, with only 30 days in September and not wanting to bombard you with everything I’ve ever written, I’ve only chosen a few but hopefully that will give you a good overview of what I’ve designed and provide a bit of inspiration for your next project!

 

So that’s it – my plan for Socktember 2026 – and hopefully many more Septembers after this one.  Are you in? 🙂