waste heels

On 22 Jan 2006 11:34:29 -0800, " snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com" spewed forth :

First, get out a pair of socks that fit you well, and for which you used a standard toe (ie, not a short-row toe, but a decreased-at-four-points toe). Measure the toe from the row before the first decrease was made to the tip. This is how long your afterthought heel will be. You need to know this so that you can make your sock long enough!

Knit the leg to the desired length. Knit half the stitches onto a waste yarn, knit across the waste stitches and continue down the foot. When the foot is (total length - toe length -toe length) make the toe.

Make another to match.

Now pull out the waste yarn, pick up stitches all around including an extra stitch in the "gap" between the top and the bottom. Knit once around, then start making another toe. Do the same for the other sock.

Done.

The only thing I don't like about afterthought heels is the two extra ends I have to darn in :D

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Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

I actually haven't tried afterthought heels yet, although they are on my list to try.

Higs, Katherine

This is my preferred heel actually. Elizabeth Zimmerman recommends using 2/3 the circumference (rather than 1/2), and that's how I have made the last oh, half dozen pairs I have made, but I think I am going to experiment with something between half and 2/3 on the current pair.

Georgia

Marie i have takem socks that lost their heels , picked up stiches at the place the heel starts , knitted the heel as if it was on it`s own , no other conecction to the sock , but the casting on stiches , than cast off and sewed the heel on the ruined heel all around ,,, this made for a warmer heel and longer lasting one ... ps add some embroidery thread to your wool ,,, mirjam

Elizabeth Zimmerman also came up with a pattern she called Moccasin Socks, which had the entire heel and sole of the foot and toe removable for easier replacement, while keeping the ankle and instep. I haven't made them yet but they're based on the baby bootie idea of knitting the top and then picking up stitches all around, knitting the sides, and decreasing at toe and heel, then kitchenering the middle of the sole.

=Tamar

skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Hi, Marie! I think it is a very good idea, and have tried these once

I haven't done it more than once,( we have no tradition for those heels here,)I'm not able to "judge" whether they were good, or not so good ;-) Here is another one: ;-))

Thanks Wooly, I'm going to give it a try. I wish some of you people lived closer to me......then I could run over and BUG you LOL. Marie and the cats

Thanks Tamar. I saw in a book somewhere that there is a way to make a sock with a *hole* in it and then you go back and make a heel part and sew that into the sock. I think the Irish used to do it, made replaceable heels and toe parts for their socks/stockings. It was just too much work & too expensive to knit brand new footwear just because one small part wore out. I know I'm hard on heels, have to dig in with mine to do heavy lifting at work. Thought it would be efficient to make some type of replaceable heels in my socks. I'll let you know how it turns out! Marie and the cats

Thanks Georgia. I'm looking for a removable-replacable heel part that I can sew in or take out. But thank you anyway. Elizabeth Zimmerman has some great books out. Marie and the cats

Thanks Mirjam, great idea. Marie and the cats

That's exactly it Aud!!! Thank you thank you. I love you! Marie and the cats

Marie , by all means , come and live nearer to me i would have loved your bugging me about knitting???? i really miss some Normal knitting talk .. mirjam

Not just the Irish.

Therese de Dillmont's Encyclopedia of Needlework, originally 1884 and out of copyright in all its original editions (so often reprinted) has lots of ways to make socks, including ways to make socks that can be repaired easily. But the print is kind of small and the engravings are the orignial Victorian pictures. Also, there may be typographical errors.

But the "afterthought" heel can be done exactly that way. You knit to where you would start the heel, knit across a piece of waste yarn for half the width of the foot (or two-thirds if you like a looser heel), and knit on around and make the ankle part. Then you go back and take out the waste yarn and pick up the stitches all around (maybe a couple extra to close up the ends of the hole) and knit a "toe", kitchenering it when it's the right length to fit your heel. You can try it on to check how it fits without taking out the needles.

=Tamar

If, instead of using waste yarn, you did the 'afterthought heel' by binding off (soft bind-off, maybe the sewn one that EZ taught), and casting on to go on around, you'd have a nice edge to sew the new heel onto. Then just cast on and knit a 'toe' that will be a heel. You could do the same for the toe, too.

Here's my idea for modular socks. Just knit a toe and bind it off. Do another one for the heel. Knit a tube for the foot and ankle, with a bound off and then cast on again hole for the heel. Make as many as you like. Sew them together when you awnt another sock. Knit tubes without holes in them and do EZ's afterthought heel (by snipping a stitch at the right location to inset a heel) when you want to make a sock for someone else. It's lots more fun to just knit tubes of neat designs. They don't have to fit anybody in particular until you know who they're for and then you just insert a heel at the right place and sew on a toe.

=Tamar

I will come bug you one of these days. As soon as these terrorist threats lessen and I manage to save some money, I'm going to hop on a plane. I'll let you know! Marie and the cats PS In future, I'll have an extra guest bedroom here too.......

Yes, I remembered a bit about that part. I was also worried about how to make the gusset around the hole......these sites Aud recommended are good, will make copies of them for reference while I'm working on the socks. Marie and the cats

Yeah, I saw a picture someone knitted of socks with a hole for the heel, and the heel was knitted with these right angle looking corners. Then the heel was sewn into the sock. I'm sure everyone knows this already, but I live in the desert and you can't find wool socks here. And as of this past fall, no one had any flannel pajamas. I was too busy at work among other things to have enough free time to make myself a pair and had to settle for some cotton ones.....luckily I have a lot of furry pets that lay all over the bed 24/7 to warm it up for me. It does get cold at night and I miss my flannels. Also I spend a lot of time in the coolers at work. Imagine getting up and being at work as early as 2.00 am, then heading into coolers which range from 32 F down to 20 below zero......ICK..... no wonder I'm the sinus infection queen....and since the doctor took me off all my thyroid meds (I had to have another round of drug therapy for some more tumors they found) I get cold now, I mean shaking cold......need wool socks....need flannels....need wool...... Marie and the cats

My heels haven't worn out yet because I knit them (and the toes) with serger thread in addition to the yarn, for reinforcement. But if they did, I would try just inserting my needles around the circumference of the original heel and knitting a new one over it.

Just a thought.

Georgia