Sock's Heels

I've written a post on short row heels before, but after a few experiments decided to make a more general post on the main methods for making sock heels. So here it is.

Before I begin, I really like this Tess Knits post on her favourite methods to knit socks. She makes them nice and easy, which is the way I like them, and doesn't neglect to consider how to later fix holes on toes and heels. The post provides a toe-up recipe and for the heel she uses either a short row heel or the afterthought one.

A disclaimer: there are an endless variety of heels out there. Some are variations of the main methods I'll include in this post, others are heels specially designed to get some specific effect. A honourable example of the latter is the Skew sock. This post does not attempt to be in any way comprehensive, on the contrary, my objective is to include only the most popular methods.

Afterthought heel

This is one of the most popular heels. Lately, I have heard so many people claim this as their favourite method that I am starting to believe it may well be the best. However, of all the standard methods, this is the only one I have not tried because I think is too much bother. Here is a video tutorial I recommend (I also recommend checking the Tessknits link I give above):

The main advantage of the afterthought heel is that, if you need to fix a hole later, it is easy to undo and redo. Another important advantage is that if you're using self-striping yarn, this heel provides perfect results. But so does the short-row heel if you use a separate piece of yarn and I prefer the latter. You'll hear some people complaining the afterthought heel doesn't have a good fit, but knitting about 1cm or more before starting the decreases (as recommended in the video) should fix that problem. The main disadvantage, in my opinion, is that it is a bit of a pain to work out. I mean to get the stitches on the needles before you start knitting. Disclaimer: as I mentioned above, I have never tried this technique.

Heel flap plus gusset

This is the only heel I include in this post that is worked differently toe-up and cuff-down. There are a lot of variations of this heel, I can only recommend the ones I've used. Cuff down: I've used this method on my standard sock tutorial. Toe up: if you prefer toe-up, there is an easy method that involves no stitch picking, a bonus in my opinion. I've used the tutorial by La Maison Rililie, which is very good and easy to follow.

Advantages: easy to execute, easy to adapt, very good fit. Disadvantage: not so easy to fix holes, but it can and should be reinforced, which makes it long lasting. Another disadvantage is that it does not look so good with self-striping yarns. Even if you use a separate piece of yarn for the heel, the gusset will result in thinner stripes in the heel region.

Short row heels

I've written a post on short-rows, with video tutorials for two methods: the standard wrap-and-turn and the German one. Note that the latter video tutorial includes, at the end, a version of a short-row heel.

I've also written a post just on short-rows heels, but I am not too please with that post. I think it is too complicated as I include too much information. And I do have more to add: in particular, nice links that provide more concrete information, not on all possible methods, but some simple ones I can recommend.

• I'd recommend a method that involves no wraps, for example, German short rows (see Tess Knit link below in addition to the aforementioned video tutorial) or this method (note: if I'm not mistaken, knitting the double stitches through the back loop makes them less visible).
• Another completely different but very easy method is given in this recipe.
• If you're a perfectionist, Japanese short rows give better looking results (if you study your stitches carefully, you can do them without the pins). This is very similar to the method described on the previous link, but the stitches are picked in a different way, which is a lot more difficult. Thus, I do not recommend it.
• Tess Knits has written 3 posts with 3 variations of this heel, all very good. She uses German short rows, but her method is not exactly the same as the standard short-row heel, because it knits one full round in between the two short-row sessions. This is the reason this method is not ideal for self-striping yarn. It is the standard method used in German speaking countries, as far as I know.
• The fish lips kiss heel that everyone is raving about is just a variation of this method. I have also written a post on it. Personally, I think this method promises more than it delivers, but you're free to think its popularity proves me wrong.
• Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel is also a very popular variation of this method. Cat provides very good tutorials for the standard and the padded version of this heel.