New Socks

I am knitting a new pair of socks.



I was going to knit them up with the same pattern I have been using. A basic sock, but on Friday I was reading the Yarn Harlot and she was talking about an "afterthought heel". She said that you can knit up the tube of the sock and knit the toe and then come back and add in the heel at the end. She said that you can pick up half the stitches and then cut a stitch under the row you picked up (gasp) and then pick up the row beneath too. Then you have a nice opening and you, ready for this?, knit another toe. YES, I said knit another TOE, where the heel should go. I did some more research and I was not liking the idea of cutting (gasp) a stitch. I was confused as to what to do with the cut strings on each side. Wouldn't they eventually make a hole? Nothing seemed to make sense to me.

So Saturday night I got the tube knitted up to where the heel should go and I got scared. So I just knit the heel, turning it and everything. About halfway through the heel though, I realized that I had messed up and I thought if I just finish maybe it will look okay, but in the end it didn't look okay. In fact, it was way too wide of a heel and it didn't cinch up like it should. So Sunday morning I ripped out the whole heel.

I did some more research on the internet and others were saying that you can just knit a piece of waste yarn where the heel will go later and continue to knit your regular pattern to the end of the toe. Then come back and pick up the stitches above and below your waste yarn and voila you have a hole for the heel. This made more sense to me because you weren't cutting anything.

So this is where I am. I am half way up the foot part of the sock about two inches away from starting the toe. If I am lucky (I am a slow knitter) I will finish the toe tonight and if I am industrious (or impatient) I will pick up the stitches where the waste yarn is and begin the heel (or second toe).

So far this seems to be a very quick way to knit a sock. (except for the ripping out of a very wide heel and starting over again). Heels are so hard anyway particularly if you aren't really using a pattern. I can't remember how far over to knit (or purl is it) to begin the turning part of the heel. I never seem to pick up enough stitches on each side either once the heel is turned which then makes for a bit of knitting fudge later.

Do you think I am crazy about knitting another toe into a heel spot? Let me show you something. Are you wearing store bought socks? Take one off or if you don't want to take it off grab a sock laying around close by. Look at the toe and how it decreases down to a sort of point at the end. A blunt point. Okay now turn it over and flatten out the heel, wide-ways. See how it goes down to a point too like the toe? It is a toe in the heel spot. See? Clear as mud right? Well trust me it will work (even though I haven't actually done it yet), but it will work. Those experts tell me it will and today I am trusting them.

I will post more photos of the whole process when I am done.

Smiles for now!! :) And head over to Skip to my Lou and check out what others have been working on this weekend.

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