Sock heels

French Dutch Square Peasant V- or half-hankie Round Balbriggan short-row Strong Shaped Common and Common Band

Nancy Bush's book "Folk Socks and Stockings"

WAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:-)

Never heard of that. If I can't find it, is there an on-line source?

No, I shouldn't be asking you, I should Google myself.

Thank you very much, I'm impressed. Just realised, though, that 'auto' isn't included in your list!

Mary

On Tue, 6 Mar 2007 16:08:03 -0000, "Mary Fisher" wrote: , I should Google myself.

I have a sneaking hunch that "auto" and "short row" are the same thing, or possibly "auto" and "peasant" are the same.

I'm also vague on French (I took your word that it's a heel turning) - possibly it is equivalent to one of the NB heels.

The book I mentioned is ISBN 0934026971, pub Interweave Press. You ought to be able to find it through amazon.uk or the library.

I Googled and found so many resources, it will take ages to read and even longer to try but I'm very grateful.

Even an old dog can learn new tricks :-)

Mary

I've downloaded so much that I can't remember right now. It does have an alternative name.

I can't remember the alternative word for that either!

I was referring originally to an English pattern of more than 60 years ago but I know I saw 'French' in at leat one list.

Perhaps, and I'm grateful, but I've enugh to work on at the moment. And right now I need to go and make dinner. What a waste of good reading time :-)

Mary

Is one of the names above the same as "afterthought heel." As scary as heel turning is to me, the afterthought heel is unthinkable! No steeking and curring for me! It would be great to have/compose a comprehensive list of heel types. Once I get over my fear, I want to try different ones until I find the most comfortable for me. Madelaine

I have never been able to psych myself up for steeking--mainly because an error would be unrepairable, but the afterthought heel is a cinch, and it's the only one I use. Why is it not scary? Because you only snip one thread. This means first of all, that the sock will not unravel--you have to un-pick each stitch. Second, because you only snip one thread, if you decide its the wrong thread, it's trivial to repair: back up a few stitches and knit with new yarn a few stitches either side of the snip. (I've never made that error, but as you see, it's not a disastrous one.)

Try knitting a little swatch from "waste" yarn, and doing a steek on it.

You don't even have to do that. Just knit the heel on a waste thread, then knit across the waste stitches and continue on down the foot (or up the leg, depending on your orientation and starting point). When you're ready to make the heel just pick up the stitches, and knit in the heel. When the heel is done you can pull out the waste yarn.

This leaves you with only TWO extra ends to darn in, not four as you have if you snip and ravel...

yes, a peasant heel and an afterthought heel are the same thing.

Funny that I just came across this post today, as I got from my girlfriend this handy little website for ...none other than Heels

see if this helps you out. Cheryl

Yee gods - reading this thread gives me hives. Steeking?!! Waste yarn! Eeeeeek..... The only heel I've ever done, and it's served me well, is the K1,Sl 1 flap. I have no idea where it sits on that extensive list you posted. ;>D

I've never had a heel wear out. My wool socks wear on the ball of the foot, and I just take some leftover yarn and "darn" it. One thing I do need to buy is a darning egg, which would make it much easier.

Shelagh

Shelagh, I like that heel, too. I figure, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Higs, Katherine

Yes, that's one of the ones I found! It's certainly worth studying.

Thanks,

Mary

Yes, but how do you TURN the heel? That's where the real fun lies :D

I've made all of the heels in the NB book at one time or another: I wanted to find a heel that fits my foot and isn't a hassle to make. I finally settled on a modified Dutch heel: Even though I have a rather narrow heel I don't like a narrow heel on my socks, so I put four extra stitches on the center section to make it wide enough to suit.

The socks look rather odd when not on the foot as the gusset tends to pull the foot back toward the heel, but they fit well and that's what counts :D

Oh - I use short rows. Is that a specific type of heel? I'm finally at the point of not needing stitch counts to knit plain socks, but have been having fun lately with some patterns on the leg. ;>D

Shelagh

"Shillelagh" skrev i melding news:aBnHh.290660$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe13.lga...

I read these posts on heels, with great interest! I'm impressed with all your knowledge about different heels, girls and guys! I have nothing further to tell ... BUT:Shelagh: The only thing I have to say is for you :-)): When my mother didn't have any darning egg ..... (or "darning muchroom" , as we call what we use, it look like this:

That works if you know where to put the waste thread. (If I recall correctly, it's just where the top of the foot bends to become the ankle.)

If you don't know, then the point of the afterthought heel is that you can knit a lovely tube in your choice of pattern (as long as you're willing to use it for the sole of the foot) and then put a heel in when you find out what size foot is going into it.

This makes it handy for gift socks, because you can knit happily away on a generic diameter without worrying about length of foot. Then when you know who is going to get socks, you find out how long their foot is, subtract 10% for stretch (or not, if they dislike any sock tension), and insert a heel.

=Tamar

Short rows is a specific type of heel. It looks a lot like the peasant heel, but the peasant/after-thought heel is worked from the base to the 'top', and the short row heel is done by knitting half the heel to the 'top' and then knitting down again, instead of working the entire base and short rowing when you get near the top.

Someone somewhere recently said that they had found 15 different heels! I wish I remembered where. She didn't post a list, though.

=Tamar