Standard Socks III

This posts describes the process of knitting the heel of the sock. If you're using self-striping yarn, there is an issue with obtaining a regular stripe pattern in this section. This problem, and how to avoid it, will be discussed on a later post.

Now we've finished the leg, it is time to work the heel flap. It's quite simple, all we have to do is divide the stitches in two equal parts, the one corresponding to the front of the leg is left unworked on the needles, while we knit a square with the other half. This means this section is worked flat.

Tip: Everyone says the heel flap is a square, but don't pick up a ruler when comparing its width and height. The truth is that if you knit a perfect square, the flap will turn out a bit too tall. There is a funny visual effect that makes the flap look like a square when it is still a short rectangle, that should be the best size for it, unless you have an unusually high heel.

Often, people like to knit it in a different stitch. This is not necessarily done for aesthetic reasons, more importantly, it is meant to make the heel more durable, as this is often the part of the sock that becomes worn out with use. The lazy version is to work garter stitch (since you're working flat this avoids those horrid purl stitches), the better version is using slip stitches. This is the one I used, here is the pattern:

right side rows: slip first stitch and then knit straight;
wrong side rows: * slip 1, purl 1,  repeat (always finish with a purl stitch).

If you've cast-on 64 stitches, work these two rows 14 times (that is a total of 28 rows).

Slipping the first stitch on every row produces a nice edge for picking up stitches later, so this is very important to remember, but, for the same reason, one must always knit or purl the last stitch too.

After finishing the square, start the heel turn (the cream-coloured section at the end of my knitting on the photograph on the left). This is done using short-rows. Here is the recipe (this corresponds to 32 heel stitches, if you have a different number you must adapt the number accordingly):

Row 1: sl1, k17, ssk, k1, turn;
Row 2: sl1, p5, p2tog, p1, turn;
Row 3: sl1, k6, ssk, k1, turn;
Row 4: sl1, p7, p2tog, p1, turn;
Next rows: continue in the same way by knitting or purling an extra stitch and decreasing over the gaps (note that in rows 1 and 2, the ssk and p2tog are done using the stitch before and the one after the gap generated by the turn in the previous row).
Stop when you've knitted all the heel stitches (you should have 18 stitches on your needle).

What to do if you've cast-on a different number of stitches? In the first row, knit to the middle of the heel, knit a few more stitches that correspond to about .5 cm (more for big feet, less for small ones) of fabric, ssk, k1 and turn. In the second row, purl to the middle, purl the same number of stitches that you've knitted before, p2tog and turn, then proceed as explained above. This results in a sharp heel, fear not, it becomes quite round when in use.