The Anti Short-Row Short-Row Heel
February 6th, 2007
Or rather, the alternate heel that uses short-row shaping for toe-up socks. This is the heel I used to make Corey’s sock because I hated the short-row heel that I tried. I’m rewriting the instructions because I didn’t find the instructions on the page I found them very easy to follow. If you hate short-rows because you don’t like doing them, this is not the heel for you. If you hate short-row heels because they’re not shaped well, this may be the heel for you.
The instructions are long, so you’ll have to click to see the rest.
The foot: You’ll want to knit the foot of the sock to right about where the arch of the foot and the ankle start getting wider (or taller, whatever).
Set up your stitches: Now rearrange your stitches so that they’re on your needles like this: One quarter of the stitches on needle 1, half the stitches on needle 2, and the last quarter of the stitches on needle 3. If you’re knitting a pattern on the top of the foot, make sure that the pattern continues on needle 2, and the heel will be done on needles 1 and 3.
Decide how many stitches you will be increasing for the gusset. Generally you’ll want to increase by an inch on each side (total of two inches). This also depends on the foot you’re knitting for and the fit you want.
The Gusset increases: Start with needle 1 and knit to one stitch short of the end, M1, K1. Your M1s should all be using the same method, and it doesn’t matter which. Needle 2 knit all the way across. Needle 3 K1, M1, knit to the end. Repeat this every other row so that you’re doing an increase row, then a simple knit row alternately until you have increased the chosen number of stitches.
Now you need to decide how many stitches you’re going to do the heel on. Take the number of stitches around (the circumference) that you started with before the gusset, divide by 2, and subtract 2. If I had 56 stitches around before starting the gusset, I would do the heel on 26 stitches.
Rearrange the stitches again: You should be right back at the beginning of your row ready to knit needle 1. Arrange your stitches so that you have half the heel stitches on needle 1, and the other half on needle 3. Put the rest of the stitches evenly on 2 needles (you won’t be needing them for the moment). So, using the previous example, needles 1 and 3 will each have 13 stitches on them.
The heel: For those familiar with short rows, you will be doing the beginning of a short row heel using the stitch arrangement of your choice. This means you should stop before going back to start working the wrapped stitches, ending on a wrong side row.
Choose the stitch arrangement for the heel. This means that you will have a u-shape with a chosen number of stitches on each side, and the rest on the bottom. This depends on how wide or thin you want the heel. If you’re not sure just divide the heel stitches by three, putting any extra stitches in the middle if it doesn’t divide evenly. For example with 26 heel stitches, I might put 8 stitches on each side, and 10 stitches in the middle, which adds up to 26. It may not make sense now what these numbers are for, but just write them down and set them aside.
Right side rows are in bold. You will be knitting and purling back and forth on what was originally needles 1 and 3.
Row 1: You’re halfway into row 1 on what was originally needle 1. Knit to one stitch before the end, wrap and turn*.
Row 2: Sl1, purl to one stitch before the end of the heel stitches, wrap and turn.
Row 3: Sl1, knit to one stitch before the next wrapped stitch, wrap and turn.
Row 4: Sl1, purl to one stitch before the next wrapped stitch, wrap and turn.
Repeat rows 3 and 4 until you have the chosen number of stitches unwrapped in the middle. Using the above example, 8 stitches on each side will be wrapped, and 10 in the middle will be unwrapped.
Now we’re done with the short rows.
Row 5: Sl1, knit to the first wrapped stitch. #Knit the next stitch with the wrap* tbl# repeat between # and # until all but the last wrapped stitches are worked on this side. For the last wrapped stitch, prepare the stitch to be knit, and incorporate the next waiting stitch in a SSSK. Wrap and turn (you will be wrapping the next waiting stitch).
Row 6: Sl1, purl to the first wrapped stitch. #Purl the next stitch with the wrap# repeat between # and # until all but the last wrapped stitches are worked. P3tog with the next wrapped stitch, the wrap, and the next waiting stitch. Wrap and turn.
Row 7: Sl1, knit to the next wrapped stitch. SSSK the next stitch, the wrap, and the next waiting stitch. Wrap and turn.
Row 8: Sl1, purl to the next wrapped stitch. P3tog with the next stitch, the wrap, and the next waiting stitch.
Repeat rows 7 and 8 until you have the same number of stitches as you did before the guesset increases. You’re basically decreasing each gusset stitch until they are gone.
That’s it!
* Wrap and turn: Bring the yarn to the front as if to purl (to the back as if to knit for wrong side rows), slip the stitch purlwise and bring the yarn (back or forward) to its original position. Turn your work to begin the next row.
*knit the next stitch with the wrap: Put your needle into the stitch (through the back loop) and lift the wrap up with the stitch you are to knit. Knit them together.
Cool, Kristin, this is something I want to learn eventually and it looks you outlined things nice and clearly!