Sock Heels, how many different ways?

I really like Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Afterthought" heel. As she explains it, you knit a tube sock, then, where the leg makes a 90-degree angle with the foot, snip a thread, unravel one-half to two-thirds of the way around the sock, picking up the stitches evenly on 3 or 4 needles, and decrease at the sides as if you were making another toe. Six of the seven pairs of socks on my knitted objects page were made that way.

It doesn't do anything to the instep. What it does is make the gusset wider, so you have to do more decreases. You can do a whole lot of decreases at once - even k3tog (sssk on the other side) - and it will pull in nicely, to get rid of the extra stitches faster.

What you are doing is the standard heel flap in most modern instructions. "Short row" heels are like EZ's afterthought heel, sometimes called a "peasant heel" or a "forethought heel". Most patterns now tell you to wrap stitches, but the "Japanese short row" heel just has you put a safety-pin stitch marker on the yarn instead of doing the wrap. The pin acts as a hand-hold so you can pull it up to put it on the needle and do the k2tog; this makes the 'wrap' very tight so there aren't any holes.

But there are lots of ways to do heels. There are several unusual ways in Therese de Dillmont's book from 1894 (with a few updates since then): The Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework. It's way out of copyright so there are lots of editions. Try the library first; if you like it you can probably pick one up cheaply at a used book store or

Dillmont gives the Dutch heel (pretty much the modern heel), a stepped heel that allows you to adjust the width for a narrow heel, two heels worked in plain knitting which I'm pretty sure are 'forethought' heels, and an "Italian" stocking that is made with the top separate from the sole (then sewn together on the sides), to make it easier to repair when the sole is worn out.

Dillmont doesn't have all of them, since there were some very odd methods that didn't catch on, and some newer ones on the web, Search on Google for the Sherman Heel.

Other heels are shown in Nancy Bush's book: Folk Socks. The Common Heel, the Shaped Common Heel, the Balbriggan Heel, th Half-Handkerchief Heel, the Dutch Heel, the Band Heel, and the Peasant Heel (EZ's Afterthought Heel).

=Tamar

Oh, yee gawds - snip, unravel, pick up stitches - sounds gruesome. I'll stick with a sl 1, k1 heel flap, thank you. ;>)

Shelagh

Georgia, I think my mother knitted the same Aran sweater pattern that you did, way back in the 1970s. Her sweater, knitted with yarn that didn't have all the lanolin washed out, was supposed to fit my sister, but became my Dad's sweater. He still has it and wears it,and it still sheds water and snow from the lanolin. Madelaine

I suppose we all have our own phobias. I'm pretty happy with this technique, but I can't bring myself to do anything involving steeks and slashing my seamless knitting!

Georgia

Ooh! Thank you for all the resources - it is an immense help just to know what many of the methods are called, as I didn't. It's like trying to use a dictionary to figure out how to spell a word - if you don't KNOW how to spell it, it's harder to find!

I must admit, my first reaction to the Afterthought heel is "eek! cut and unravel???!!!" That sounds like an invitation to disaster for me - I'd be sure to unravel to much, or cut in the wrong place...

Well, I have to finish the sock I've got started with the k1 sl1 flap as it's mate is done like that (with a bit of a wonky edge and a small hole, oh well) but for pair #4 I'll see what else I can look up from what you've sent below.

Thanks!

Johanna, whose sew> >

Of all the books I could find in my library, I think "Cool Socks, Warm Feet" by Lucy Neatby has the most useful information on knitting socks. She has instructions for doing several heel styles and some good help on making them fit properly. The only thing I don't like about the book is how it is put together; the pages have a mix of portrait and landscape presentation.

I did one pair with an afterthought heel, but have to confess that I prefer the old way - short rows, picking up gusset stitches, etc. That works best for me. That being said, if I came across a pattern using as afterthought heel, I would use it.

Higs, Katherine

Georgia wrote:

I did one pair with an afterthought heel, but have to confess that I prefer the old way - short rows, picking up gusset stitches, etc. That works best for me. That being said, if I came across a pattern using as afterthought heel, I would use it.

Higs, Katherine

Georgia wrote:

I like the short row heel myself. Some people don't like to steek - I don't like to pick up stitches!

Alison

You can make the same kind of inserted-later heel by knitting half of a round with waste yarn, so that all you do later is pick up the stitches and remove the waste yarn. For both versions you knit to where your foot bends forward from the ankle at the instep; that's where the row is that will eventually be the heel-insertion place. Usually the heel takes half the round, but for a bigger heel (high instep, tight sock) you can use two thirds of the round.

The best part of the peasant heel is that it is knitted just like a toe, with only decreases - no increases, no picking up stitches, and no wrapping. The only annoying bit is that you have to work in extra ends of yarn.

There may be even more heels in Gibson-Roberts' "Ethnic Socks and Stockings" which might also be available at the library.

=Tamar

That was how I did it, Tamar. But I still prefer my old way.

Higs, Katherine