Standard Socks V

We've finished working the heel turn in the last post of this series, so now we'll start working the main part of the foot.

First, what we'll do next depends on whether we've used a different strand of yarn to work the heel or not. In the first case, cut the yarn and leave it to weave-in the end later, we'll be working with the main strand from now. Of course, you'll notice that to do this you'll have to slip some stitches around in order for the stitches on the needles to be in the right position. If you have been using a single strand just continue to work with the strand you have. Now, because in the first case we're in a different position than the second, the order we'll do the next section of work will differ, but the result should be the same. The idea is that we have to pick up stitches from the side of the heel flap and join these stitches with the stitches of the front of the foot and the stitches of the heel turn in a single round. I hope this is not too confusing here is the procedure:

• when you're “facing” the beginning of either one of the heel flap sides, pick up and knit 15 stitches from it.
• when you're at the end of the heel flap side, you're at the beginning of one of the live stitch sections, either the front of the foot or the heel, just work this section straight and proceed to pick up and knit the stitches from the side of the heel. Note that working straight means working the front stitches in pattern and all other stitches in stockinette.

After we've knitted the four sections together (the two sides of the heel, 2x15 stitches, the heel turn, 18 stitches, and the front of the foot, 32 stitches), we should have 80 stitches on the needle (don't worry too much if you've done a small mistake picking-up stitches and you have a different stitch count as long as you don't have any holes showing up). That is 16 stitches too many which we will progressively decrease in the next section: the gusset.

Note: here we've assumed we've cast-on 64 stitches and worked 2x14 rows of heel flap. If your numbers are different don't sweat. See those little chains at the sides of the flap? Those were formed by slipping the first stitch and knitting the last stitch of every row of the flap. Work as described, but pick one stitch from one of each little chain plus one stitch from in-between the flap and the front of the foot. Done.

The gusset is that little triangle forming at the side of the heel flap. It is formed by doing a series of decrease rows until you've the correct number of stitches on the needles. Because this region of the foot is wider than the rest, we'll ideally work the gusset decreases every other row. Instead I've mistakenly done the decreases every row and got a very short gusset as you can see in the photo, the good news is that knitted fabric is elastic so this works well too. So here is the correct recipe (not the one I've followed):

• Odd rounds: k1, ssk, knit to three stitches before end of heel, k2tog, k1, knit all stitches at the front of the foot in pattern.
• Even rounds: knit straight (the front stitches in pattern, the others in stockinette, you get the picture).

Note: I start my rounds at the beginning of the heel section (the section that includes the picked up stitches and the heel turn stitches). If you're at a different place, just knit straight until you reach the right position.

Alternate the above rounds until there are a total of 32+32 stitches (note: that is the same number as cast-on stitches) on the needles. We've finished the gusset section and are now on the centre part of the foot.

Continue to work the pattern on the top stitches (previously known as the front stitches) and plain stockinette on the sole stitches (previously known as the heel stitches).