but not around here!
yes, it’s later than i’d like it to be for taking pix and posting, but all that desk work is good for something, sometimes.
enough (re)printing and (re)updating tp knit a heel onto this pink ragg sock. which puts me ’round the bend, so to speak, on this pair. only a foot to knit and i’ll be done—and i usually find the foot the fastest part to work through, especially when it’s sock #2.
now here’s something i’d like to ask you about. when i make a slip-stitch heel, one edge of it comes out looser than the other, because one row begins in knit and the other in purl.
hopefully you can see what i’m talking about here and not think “she’s a CRAZY woman!”. and i think those of you who knit slip-stitch heels know what i’m talking about . . .
the difference, in my case, isn’t enough to cause a loose join for the gusset; rather, it means that one side is enough tighter, that i have a bit of trouble picking up for the gusset (especially with this fuzzy handspun romney). and it’s bugging me just enough that i feel a poll is in order.
now, knowing how smart, wily, and crafty you all are, and knowing you are not the types to let sleeping dogs lie, or just let the heel edge be what it wants to be, i’m sure you have plenty of workarounds up your sleeves that you are just dying to share . . . so lemme have ’em. i’ll even post the lot so everyone can share the heel-edge love.
and, since i have this pair virtually done, and the stepSocks also zooming into the finish line, i thought it was time to cast on for another pair (or two).
actually, i really need to get going on some good socks for david and the other men. fall is right around the corner, and the cupboard is bare—that is, there are several girl-pairs piled up on the sock shelf, but no man socks to speak of (those ones to the far right don’t fit david, and i have yet to find the right guy for them . . . they are variegated, you see).
my nephew has already hinted, then out and out TOLD me, he wants some for next year too, so another guy has been added to the list of sock whores sluts appreciators that grovel at my feet i will knit for.
i have come to have certain rules about knitting socks for my men. if i don’t use handspun, which i can make with a nice tight twist that doesn’t self-destruct upon being worn once, then i want commercial yarn that is a tad heavier and has some nylon in it to defend against hard wear. i have a few favorites already, but wanting to expand my horizons, i decided to try kim’s yarn (isn’t her site adorable?).
kim does beautiful dye work—i have some of her rovings that i picked up at SPA. in fact, when i ordered the other day, she helpfully reminded me that i almost bought one of these exact same hanks that weekend. but what fun would that be?? why buy on the spot when you can go home, waffle some more, and then pay to have the mail carrier bring it after all?
anyway, the yarn is lovely, right? it looks especially good on my desk. kim also read my mind, and included a jar of hand creme. how did she know i was kicking myself about not adding it to my order?
cuz, she’s good, that’s why.
i already wound the deep forest gump colorway (right) into a ball to cast on . . . er, as soon as i finish at least one of the almost-finished socks. maybe.
then, melissa stopped by to pick up a big bag of crap fiber that i am through trying to spin into a nice yarn—it’s awful. but perfect for her rug-felting event later this month (don’t tell her, but i am so glad to see that bag go, i could weep). besides being really funny and a Grand Inquisitive Knitter, she’s really thoughtful and sweet, and gives a lot of time to doing things for kids.
um, and she brought me a ball of yarn, too.
ok, this has a story, which is, i used the only ball i ever had to knit the original cloverleaf mitts, and it was the perfect. we all loved those, but when we went to search for the yarn, we found it was discontinued. arrrghhh.
well, melissa dug some up in a chicago yarn shop and bought all they had. but she’s sharing it with me. it’s going in the stash for now, but i have plans . . .
i feel really spoiled this week by this little tidal wave of yarny gifts—kinda like eating too much ice cream, but i would do it again in a minute for the right flavor.
25 thoughts on “all work and no play . . .”
Kim’s yarns are so richly colored.
It’s been a long while since I made a heel flap, but I suspect I’m not the best at picking up the gusset stitches. If the stitches are resistant, I just jab through the top layer of yarn, regardless of where, then wrap my needle and call it a picked-up stitch. I think my reasoning is that if I go through the plies of one strand, that just adds strength to the gusset. I think I made that up, but I really believe it.
Lately, I’ve been slipping (as if to knit, even on the purl row) the first stitch of every row of a heel flap. That seems to help keep the edges quite similar. Not necessarily foolproof, but worth a try, I think.
You *would* just have to go and introduce yet another crack…erm, I mean yarn…seller…
I remember encountering that same thing I think when I made sock #1. I’ll be very interested to see what tips others have to offer. Grand idea for sharing!
My habit is to do either one of two things
1) knit backwards for the heel flap (eliminating the purl row. I do the slips in this direction as well.
2) do the first and last stitch always in knit. This leaves a small tight garter ridge along the edge, making it easy as well to see where to pick up.
The second is pretty standard for German sock construction, at least in every pamphlet I pick up, so I really can not take credit for it.
The first? Learned from practice doing colorwork flat where purling is a real pain.
-Holly
Heidelberg
i stopped slipping the edge stitches for heel flaps as i can never pick them up again without having gappy gussets! 🙂 in fact, i stopped knitting heel flaps entirely & now knit most of my socks toe-up, with a modified short-row heel that looks exactly like a heel-flap heel but without the picking-up-stitches nonsense. if i have to knit a top-down heel flap, i do a garter stitch edging (knitting the first & last few stitches on every row without slipping any stitches) & then pick up the “bumps” between the rows when picking up stitches for the gusset. xo
TWisting the errant side’s stitches might also help.
Kim is an absolute dear. I used to have one of her bunnies (now passed away) and spend a couple of very nice afternoons in her studies/bunny barn with her in NH before we moved.
So, I don’t twist the stitches in order to make one side less “wonky”, but mine don’t end up that way— here’s what I do:
Whilst you are doing the slip stitch heel flap, you are (I am assuming) doing:
*sl1, k1* *(with your SL1 being “slip 1 purlwise”)
*sl1, purl to end. (with your SL1 being “slip 1 purlwise”)
I make the snd row (purl row):
Slip 1 KNITWISE and then purl row.
It keeps my end stitches all twisty and nice. 🙂 Then I pick up for my gussets as normally called for. I love me a flap heel!
Hope this helps… and Kim’s yarn is awesome and so is her SOAP! Oh, it cured my itchy rashy dry skin in 2 weeks! And her bars lasted a good long time… like a month per bar??
🙂 Kate
I usually slip the first stitch of ever row knitwise on both rows (k and p) – I pick up the gusset stitches a la grumperina (pick them up and knit through the back loop) – it’s worked pretty well so far!
thanks for kim’s link – more yarn to drool over!
I’m new to this site (love it, by the way), and a fairly new knitter, but I’ve done more socks than anything else. Here’s what I do:
I love the slip-stitch heel because it’s extra thick and cushy. I always slip the first stitch on both the knit and purl sides. Depending on gauge this can make the gusset a bit gappy, so then I knit into the backs of the picked up stitches to twist them to close the gaps.
Knitting a pair of socks for someone is tricky. You want them to like them so your socks will be worn. However, if the received really likes them they will want more socks meaning more work for you. Of course most sock knitters only knit for people they love and makeing socks for loved ones is never a chore; just another project on the list of stuff to do.
I’m assuming that I’m doing a slipped stitch heel because I’m slipping the stitches. I have an even number of stitches. On the purl side I slip the first stitch purlwise. On the knit side I slip the first stitch knitwise. Then when I pick up stitches I just use the whole slipped stitch. But I always pick up more stitches than the pattern calls for.
I’ve never noticed if one side is tighter than the other, but I’ve never looked at them that way either. I hope they aren’t because, because, well what will I do then!
since you’ve made a lot of socks for boys, do you have any good patterns to point me to for a boy (my dad) with exceptionally large (size 16) feet?
I never noticed the problem you describe, and like other commenters, I slip the first stitch on each side of the heel flap. I’ve only knit about a half-dozen pairs of sock, though, so I’m hardly an expert. But it is nice to see how others handle this, so thanks for pointing it out.
I do love Mountain Colors Bearfoot as a sock yarn, and I think it would be good for men’s socks. It is slightly thicker than some sock yarns (I think I used size 2 needles). It has a little mohair, and it makes a wonderful warm and slightly fuzzy sock. I even cabled it once (a Nancy Bush pattern in a relatively recent IK–probably winter or fall 2003 or 2004).
I have the same problem with knitting heel flaps. I’ve begun to use short row heels instead. One side is also looser than the other, but not as noticeable. I also did not notice the looseness of the one side of the heel flap when the gussets were picked up. When the socks are washed once, all of those issues seem to disappear.
SO COOL that you’re asking a question that I’ve been struggling with for 2 weeks now! Not with a sock, but with the long edge of a triangular shawl I’ve been working on. One side all nice and even….the other side (right edge of purl side) alternates bumps and long loops…not looking very nice at all. And because both “sides” run along the long edge of the triangle, it’s VERY noticeable and frustrating. Nice to hear how others are dealing with this issue.
Use an odd number of stitches and on the knit side, slip 1, k1 across, last stitch slip 1. Purl the wrong side rows. That helps a LOT.
Joy: there’s a free pattern for size 12-13 men’s socks at my blog, you could look in Sensational Knitted Socks for foot dimensions and fudge it a little. 🙂
I see a couple people have mentioned the garter ridge for socks. I first read about it in Charlene Schurch’s book Sensational Socks. She has you knit the first three stitches of either side in garter stitch. It looks pretty neat. But honestly, I’ve never had problems picking up the gusset stitches, so I guess I don’t know what you’re talking about.
And thanks for the link! Pretty yarn!
Not sure where I learned it (possibly EZ?) but I always do a garter-stitch edge (usually 3 st. wide, sometimes less to suit a pattern) on each side of the heel flap. So the first and last 3 st. on every row are knit.
Have fun with the socks, whichever pair you work on…
Anne, I always put three garter-stitch stitches on each selvedge edge of the heel flap with the slip stitches in between these (3 + 34 + 3 = 40 sts total).
Row 1: K3, *k1, sl1 purwise. Repeat from * to 3 sts before end, k to end. Row 2: K3, p to 3 sts before end, k3. Repeat.
I’ve also started picking up the heel flap stitches with very small needles (00’s) and working them in purl on only the first row after picking them up to join the heel and make the gusset. The purl bumps seem to disappear more nautrally into the garter stitch edges of the heel flap than a stockinette stitch and also to tighten up any droop that may remain.
You do such gorgeous work, I hope these suggestions are useful to you.
Kim’s yarn is beautiful!! What great colors.
I do the slip stitch heel as well and what I do is to knit into the back of the loop. I pick up one loop with my left needle and with the right needle and working yarn knit into the back of the loop. It gives a nice twisted edge and seems easier to do. At least that is my opinion any way. 🙂
Hey Anne….I hope that sock yarn knits up well for you. It’s very soft so use a tight hand with it :-). I have done both a slip stitch and garter stitch when kntting heels and have only had a problem with loose stitches once in awhile (maybe on a wine night…LOL). Knitting into the back does help if it seems loose.
Happy knitting!
I pick up a double stitch and k2tog on it. It tends to make them more uniform on both sides. I actually took pics for a friend of mine, i’ll post them on my blog, if you’re curious to see.
I know EXACTLY what you mean about the waffling, then paying for postage. It’s part of the process. My process, at least. And it happens over and over again.
You’re too funny! Just like you can say “my name is anne, and i have FIRST SOCK syndrome” (and you did!) while everyone else is suffering from second sock syndrom, here you are saying “fall is right around the corner” while everyone else is complaining that we’re not quite over with winter yet! So much so, in fact, that you could almost finish these socks and your men could almost make use of it before spring finally comes for real… at least around here: we are supposed to get some snow tonight!
For men’s sock, are you using slightly heavier than fingering weight? Or just not very thin yarns. I definitely like nylon in my socks, although I do have some merino sock yarns that I haven’t knit with, but those are for me. I like those colors that you purchased I wonder if those might be man-friendly in my household.
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