A REAL HEEL
Confession - There is a reason that this blog is Sew Wordy and not “Sew Productive”: ‘Someone’ enjoys dreaming up new projects much more than completing them. Imagine my surprise at finding 7 complete pairs of hand knit socks in the sock drawer, all finished over the last year or so!
I’m finding socks to be as much fun to knit as to wear. In this increasingly standardized world, socks that fit, stay up around your ankles and don’t cause blisters are a joy! There are a bajillion different sock patterns in print and many of my favorites are in the book, Knit Socks!, by Betsy Lee McCarthy. And, while I’ve knit several different patterns, virtually all of my socks fall into an unwritten generic ‘recipe’. How nice it would be to be able to find that recipe wherever I go and not have to go scrambling for a pattern whenever the knitting urge strikes. So here goes – no specifics, just guidelines:
(Whenever you see (B) it means another blog topic is lurking:)
TOP DOWN SOCK RECIPE (Part 1):
Swatch a bit in chosen pattern.
Calculate sufficient stitches to fit ankle circumference = C
Adjust C up or down to be a multiple of your stitch pattern repeat = M.
LEG (B):
Cast-on loosely M stitches as calculated above. (B)
Divide onto 3 or 4 double pointed needles. (B)
Join without twisting and knit in pattern in rounds.
Knit until leg is of desired length or until you’ve used about 20% of your available yarn. This will usually be ¾ of an ounce or 20 grams of yarn. (B)
HEEL FLAP
(In pattern: knit half of your total stitches onto two needles [instep].)
Knit remaining half of stitches onto one needle for heel, increasing one stitch, if necessary, to give an even number of stitches. This number = N.
Continue with the N stitches on the single needle:
Note: S1 = slip one stitch as if to purl
Row 1: Turn, *S1, P1*, repeat *…* across.
Row 2: Turn, S1, K to end of row
Repeat these two rows until you have N rows on the heel needle.
HEEL TURN:
Calculate 1/3 of N and round up, if necessary, to an even number = T.
Row 1: Turn: S1, Knit until T + 3 stitches remain unworked, K 2 tog, K1.
Row 2: Turn: S1, Purl until T + 3 stitches remain unworked, P2 tog, P1.
Row 3: Turn: S1, Knit until T + 1 stitches remain unworked, K 2 tog, K1.
Row 4: Turn: S1, Purl until T + 1 stitches remain unworked, P2 tog, P1.
Continue in this manner, leaving 2 fewer stitches unworked at the end of each pair of rows, until all stitches are worked.
