I'm working on my sockapaloooza sock and I'm having some trouble. The heel flap business is not really working out. The slipped stitches at the beginning of a right side row are so loose that there'll be gaping holes there, and no matter how hard I try I can't get them tighter. This alpaca stuff sure is unforgiving I have to say.
Well, now I'm trying out a short row heel but there's another problem. My pal wants a 5cm long heel (or she says her heel length is 5cm, I assume that's the heel flap length), but with these short rows there's no way I'm ever gonna get that much. Maximum 3.5 cm. Why are short row heels so darn short and is there anything I can do to make it longer? Can I for example knit one row inbetween doing the wrapping thing? I'd really appreciate it if someone could offer advice :-)
I am also doing short row heels on my top down sock and running into problems since I normally do toe up. Here is what the owner of my LYS suggested this eveing. She said to make the leg of yor sock longer than the pattern calls for. You will end up with the pattern on the heel but this is okay. It does require doing a little bit of extra math but worth it.
Comment by Mia — Friday, March 31, 2006 @ 5:12 am
I probably shouldn’t be offering up another knitter for advice, but Claudia IS the queen of the short-row heel and would probably be able to help. http://www.claudiasblog.net is her URL (just in case you’re not familiar with her blog).
Comment by regina — Friday, March 31, 2006 @ 5:42 pm
Take Mia’s advice–to make the leg longer, but stop knitting your pattern on the heel stitches an inch or so before you start turning the heel. Keep going on the instep stitches, but just do stockinette on the back, so that if your pal wears shoes with back she has smooth fabric between her heel and the back of her shoe.
A tip if you want to go back to the flap-and-gusset heels: when you pick up the stitches, rather than passing the needle under the whole slipped stitch, just catch the front loop, so that you’re picking up the new stitch _through_ the slipped stitch, rather than under it. This should help get rid of the holes.
Comment by Ashley — Tuesday, April 4, 2006 @ 3:39 pm
Já, taktu aðeins í fremri hluta lykkjunnar og snúðu henni. Þá verður hún þrengri. Ég sný líka alltaf lykkjum þegar ég eyk í; og það myndast aldrei nein göt!
Comment by Sigurlaug — Tuesday, April 4, 2006 @ 6:37 pm
Thank you all so much for the advice. I will probably try the trick to knit the leg a bit longer and do a short-row heel. If this doesn’t work out, the trick with the edge stitches will sure come in handy :-)
Comment by siggasif — Tuesday, April 4, 2006 @ 8:50 pm
hmmmmmmm I personally pick up half of the slipped stitch but I do the back half. The outermost edge that wants to curl onto wrong side if that makes sense. I do this by scooping them up with spare needle then I knit through the back loop twisting them. I also pick up at least 1 extra stitch just before foot portion and k2tog it with first st that has been left in waiting for instep then ssk last instep st with first [extra] gusset stitch. Both these tricks are mentioned in one of Nancy Bush’s book but I forget which one.
Comment by elka — Saturday, April 8, 2006 @ 6:08 am
thank you for your work
Comment by averill — Sunday, June 11, 2006 @ 10:47 pm