Sunday Sock Class: The Heel

If you were following along last week, we started off by knitting a cuff and leg in the round.

 

This week we shall continue on by creating a heel. The main thing to remember is that your leg plus your foot is a long cylinder with a bend in it (actually, if you really think about it, it’s a cone, but we’ll just ignore that for the moment*). That bend is your heel. There are a variety of ways that we could make that bend in our tube of fabric, but we’re just going to go over one of the simplest methods out there: the Heel Flap.

First off, if you’re using the magic loop method, you have half your stitches on needle one, half on needle two. Rearrange stitches so that there are 24 stitches on needle one, 26 on needle two. We’re going to create the flap that covers the back of your heel.

Some easy abbreviations:
k = knit
p = purl
ssk = slip, slip knit
p2tog = purl two together
sl = slip stitches purlwise
[directions] = treat what’s in the bracket as one repeating unit

K across needle one. Turn.

1. K1, [sl1, p1] across to the last stitch, k1. Turn.
2. Knit to end of needle. Turn.

Repeat these two rows until you’ve completed 24 rows or your flap is a square. You’ll have little bumps down the side of the flap in which you can pick up your stitches. Some directions instruct you to slip that first stitch of each row rather than knitting it, then recommending you pick up your stitches in the gap created. I find that this leaves little tiny holes down the edge of my sock. Picking up stitches in the bumps gives me a much nicer finish to the edge of the flap.

You’re halfway there! Now we’re going to create the little cup that holds the bottom of your heel.

1. k1, p12, p2tog, p1
2. sl1, k3, ssk, k1. Turn
3. sl1, p to 1 st before gap, p2tog, p1. Turn.
4. sl1, k to 1 st before gap, ssk, k1. Turn.

Repeat rows 3 and 4 until you’ve decreased all the extra stitches. You should now have 14 stitches on your right needle.

Pick up and knit the stitches down the side of the heel flap using the bumps. You may need to pick up an extra stitch or two in the gap between the last bump and the first instep stitch.

Place markers after the first instep stitch, and before the last instep stitch. Knit across, then pick up the same amount of stitches up the other side of the heel flap.  Knit 7 of the heel stitches. Rearrange your stitches so that this is the new start of round and your stitches are divided equally.

Start decreasing!
1. Knit to 3 sts before the first marker. k2tog and keep knitting around to next marker. k1, ssk, knit to end of round.
2. Knit all the stitches on the next round.

Repeat these two rounds until you’ve decreased back down to a grand total of 50 stitches around again (25 stitches per needle).

Remember when I told you that you could do some social knitting or put in a DVD because you would be knitting around in circles for awhile?  Yep.  You’re going to do that again. Stop when you’re about 2.5 inches from the desired length of the foot.  We’ll finish this off next weekend!

 

* and with that, I channel my Dad. When you grow up in the same household as two art college grads (three, if you count my brother by the time we hit our mid-20’s), you get an art lesson every time you draw a doodle. Dad is notorious for the lesson in breaking shapes down to their component parts. Give him a pencil and tell him to explain a hand to you sometime. Bonus points if you can get him interested in this little experiment after a couple of glasses of Scotch (this doesn’t happen often, and generally takes exceptional skill and timing). I love you, Daddy 🙂