Kissing fish
I have already written quite a few posts on socks and even a few on sock heels in particular. And this is another one to add to the list.
The Fish Lips Kiss Heel by Sox Therapist is fast becoming the most popular patterns on Ravelry. This is not a standard pattern but rather a (very long) full tutorial on how to knit almost any sock integrating this heel including extra advice on making sure the sock fits perfectly. Costing only a little bit more than $1 USD, it is not free but a real bargain.
What is the Fish Lips Kiss Heel? You may want to know before spending your money on a pattern you may very well dislike. It is basically a short-row heel method that uses a very particular type of stitch replacing the traditional wraps-and-turns. The author of this pattern calls them twin stitches and there are two of them (or more exactly there are two ways of working the same twin stitch).
The knit twin stitch (a twin stitch worked on the right side):
and the purl twin stitch (a twin stitch worked on the wrong side):
As is always the case, there are pros and cons to this method. The pros: better fit than standard short-rows, according to the author and the many fans of this heel, the twin stitches make the short-row heel a lot more elastic than other traditional ways of working short-rows; plus all of the advantages of the short-row heel, namely, easy to memorize and work, can be worked in the same way toe-up and cuff-down, etc. The cons: again, all of the disadvantages of the short-row heel, namely, the fit is only slightly better than the standard method (see note at the end), it is hard to fix, it is not reinforced, etc; in addition, twin stitches are even more unattractive than traditional short-row stitches.
The recipe in short:
A note about fit: it is a fact that the foot of the average person is 25% wider across the heel than the rest of the foot. However, short-row methods have the same number of stitches in this region. This means that any simple short-row method will provide a bad fit at the heel. The only way to avoid it is by increasing the number of stitches in this region, which means adding a gusset. It is possible to add a gusset in a short-row heel with a little more work, see the section Adding Gussets to a Short Row Heel for Better Fit in this very good tutorial.
The Fish Lips Kiss Heel by Sox Therapist is fast becoming the most popular patterns on Ravelry. This is not a standard pattern but rather a (very long) full tutorial on how to knit almost any sock integrating this heel including extra advice on making sure the sock fits perfectly. Costing only a little bit more than $1 USD, it is not free but a real bargain.
What is the Fish Lips Kiss Heel? You may want to know before spending your money on a pattern you may very well dislike. It is basically a short-row heel method that uses a very particular type of stitch replacing the traditional wraps-and-turns. The author of this pattern calls them twin stitches and there are two of them (or more exactly there are two ways of working the same twin stitch).
The knit twin stitch (a twin stitch worked on the right side):
and the purl twin stitch (a twin stitch worked on the wrong side):
As is always the case, there are pros and cons to this method. The pros: better fit than standard short-rows, according to the author and the many fans of this heel, the twin stitches make the short-row heel a lot more elastic than other traditional ways of working short-rows; plus all of the advantages of the short-row heel, namely, easy to memorize and work, can be worked in the same way toe-up and cuff-down, etc. The cons: again, all of the disadvantages of the short-row heel, namely, the fit is only slightly better than the standard method (see note at the end), it is hard to fix, it is not reinforced, etc; in addition, twin stitches are even more unattractive than traditional short-row stitches.
The recipe in short:
- There is an 1-inch-high fake flap. This is a region above the heel where you knit your pattern on only half the stitches and work straight stockinette on the half of the stitches that correspond to the heel. This creates the illusion of a higher heel but is purely aesthetic (it does not better the fit).
- The heel itself is a pretty standard short-row recipe:
- On the heel side of your sock (corresponding to half the stitches of the sock), on the RS (right side), knit to the last 2 stitches and work the TSK (twin stitch knit). Turn, then purl to the last 2 stitches and work the TSP (twin stitch purl). Continue by knitting every row to the stitch before a twin stitch, working the corresponding twin stitch and turning.
- Do this until you have divided your stitches in approximately 3 equal thirds. For example, for 64 stitches total, there are 32 heel stitches, leave 10 (narrow heel) or 12 (wide heel) stitches in the centre region between twin stitches. End on a purl row and turn. You'll have a trapezoid hanging on your needles.
- Now you'll work the "boomerang" rows: knit to the first twin stitch, but do not turn here. Knit each twin stitch up the side of the trapezoid as a single stitch (see videos). Turn at the end. Purl the stitches, again purling the twin stitches as a single stitch. Turn.
- Then build 2nd half of heel part is just the reverse of what you did here, but joins the trapezoids together one TSK or TSP at a time (knit the twin stitch and "twin" the next stitch before turning).
A note about fit: it is a fact that the foot of the average person is 25% wider across the heel than the rest of the foot. However, short-row methods have the same number of stitches in this region. This means that any simple short-row method will provide a bad fit at the heel. The only way to avoid it is by increasing the number of stitches in this region, which means adding a gusset. It is possible to add a gusset in a short-row heel with a little more work, see the section Adding Gussets to a Short Row Heel for Better Fit in this very good tutorial.
I had always wondered what the fuss was with this. Thank you for explaining it is just a shadow wrap, that makes it so much more understandable. Why the mystery I wonder. Here I thought I would never be able to do this
ReplyDeleteIt's a slightly different way of doing a shadow wrap. And it's not the only instance I know of someone coming up with this technique and then claim to have invented something revolutionary. Socktopus being the exception, humbly calling it "my little unvention" and providing a very good tutorial for free (thank you!). I guess because shadow wraps look very unusual and are still little known, it's easy to do the former. Obviously, once you're making good money selling it, you won't want to admit that it's also available for free elsewhere. On the other hand, people who pay for it like to believe it was well spent money, so everyone is happy. But honestly, I feel like I'm being too judgemental. It's a long tutorial for very little money. I don't think it's overpriced at all, on the contrary.
DeleteIt's not that it's overpriced, it's not even her lie about how she invented it using extensive calculations, the worst part about this pattern is that she prevents sock pattern designers from including it in their patterns. FACT 1: Knitting stitches and techniques are not copyrightable. FACT 2: Even if they were, this is NOT a new technique.
ReplyDeleteRoxanne Richardson's 2nd variation of a German Short Row heel gives a perfect description of the technique to apply to shadow wrap heels - and lo and behold you have a FSK, minus the cutesy name. Her youtube tutorials are among the best out there, and no, I'm not her!
ReplyDelete