Saturday, April 19, 2008

Those Darn Short Rows!

I'm taking a wee break from lace knitting for a little bit of sock knitting. I'm just knitting a quick pair out of this ----


It's Dream In Color Smooshy in the Nightwatch colorway. The true depth of color in this yarn really cannot be captured with a camera.

As I started to think about the construction of the sock I was about to make, my attention turned to the heel. I had a dilemma -- I like to knit a short row heel, but I like the fit of a sock made with a heel flap.

I had to remedy this. I had to figure out a way to perfect my short row heels.

What was it I didn't like about my short row heels?
  1. The heel area never seemed to cup my heel.
  2. I could always see those darn wraps!
My solution to the first problem is to use more stitches for the heel flap. I will use 60% of the total sock stitches instead of 50%.

For the second problem, I am going to use Cat Bordhi's method of concealing wraps. I'll still do double wraps to avoid holes. I'm just going to work with them a little differently. Her tutorial is quite hilarious!

3 comments:

turtlegirl76 said...

I love Cat's method of concealing wraps! I too think I need to start doing double wraps though. The wraps are much less obvious, but the wholes tend to be more prominent the thicker the yarn used. In my experience.

Louisa said...

Using more stitches for your short-row heel does fit better than the usual 50%. But not better enough for my taste! I still prefer a flap and gusset heel though I will admit that short-row heels are more attractive in some designs. It's also true that feet differ as much as the tastes of sock knitters!

lexa said...

Thanks for the link! I watched it and see one thing right off that I wasn't doing right. Anxious to try it again...