THE DAILY CHUM

Welcome to the second installment of our very own Lime & Violet CHUMtorial!!

Today we come to the most crucial part about sock knitting – the heel. Including heel flap, heel shaping, and the gusset plus its decreases. In the following (whopping) 55 pictures I will show you how all that is done, why you should not be afraid of it, and when you should pop in the high percentage alcoholic liquid of your choice

We remember, the lats thing we did was finish the last row of the leg part of the sock. This should have been a k1p1 row – if it was a knit row, add another, so we’re all on the same spot here. If you feel queasy about what is to follow- use a lifeline here. This means take a thin thread, like dental floss, put it on a sewing needles, and go through all the stitches on all 4 needles. That way, if you have to rip back – just take the offensive needles out, rip everything back to the lifeline (it will not go further!), put the stitches back onto the dpns – and start fresh anew with the heel!

So, we’re all here now:

now we have to designate the needles somehow, so you know which one will take a vacation now, and which one will do the work. The needle on the right is the one that was worked last – that is by most pattern means needle #4. The needle that is ready to be worked, left, is needle #1. Between those two you see the working yarn., Those two now will get the whole action. Just forget that you have two more.

Now knit all the stitches (16) on needle #1 – the one you haven’t just worked. Turn the sock. This should now look like this:

Needles 4 and 1 are now in the back! We’re ready to do a purl row now. BUT not an ordinary purl row – a heel purl row. This means that you have to slip the first stitch, and purl the rest. Best you slip it purlwise here. After slipping the stitch, purl all sts on needle 1, then with the same dpn, purl all sts on needle 4. Now you have 32 sts on the needle!

Now turn the work so the outside of the sock is facing you again. Now the knit row of the heel is to be done. Slip the first stitch knitwise, knit to end of the row. That’s it! You’ve already done the setup and 1st row of the heel flap!

Now turn the sock again – it’s purl row time! Continue this way until you have 32 rows (don’t forget to slip the first stitch!), ending with a purl row.

The slipped stitches at the sides will make the flap look like this – I’ll explain later why this is good!

Of course you can also make a larger or smaller heel flap, but for the sake of staying together in this – make 32 rows. I usually stick with the following: heel flap stitches = heel flap rows. That way I always know how many to do on the other sock!

This heel flap is in stockinette – some patterns also do the knit rows as sl1, k1, or alternating knit rows as sl1, k1, and sl1, sl1, k1, sl1, k1 but those give me monster heels – and that would also add a third kind of ribbing to the sock that we so don’t need. With your next sock you can decide for yourself if you want to do some different heels.

So, now comes the moment of truth – we start the heel shaping. THIS is NOT the moment for intoxicating substances! Take a breath, get some water, maybe go to the loo if you have to – but now you have to stay focused. For just a little moment!

You are now set for a knit row. DO NOT slip the first stitch, knit 18 sts. Now knit the next 2 stitches together through the back loop (k2tog tbl), knit 1 more stitch. Take a breath, turn your work.

Now, slip the first stitch purlwise -

- purl 5 stitches, purl 2 stitches together (p2tog), purl 1 stitch. It now looks like this:

You can clearly see the gap to the right – that was where we did the turn. Yep, we’re doing some kinds of short rows here, while we use up the rest of the stitches. Now turn the work around – it’s knit row time again!

Slip the first stitch knitwise, and knit until 1 stitch before the gap.

Now, knit the last stitch before the gap, and the first stitch after the gap together through the back loop (yep, another k2tog tbl, like in the last knit row). knit 1 stitch – now it looks like this:

You can clearly see that gap on the right. Also, if you look closely, you can see that the stitches from the k2tog tbl are creating a nice slant, just under the 2nd stitch from the middle stitches, and under the third, the row below. This slant is similar to the one that emerges on the other siode of your heel – done by the slipped stitches, and the k/p togethers. the way we are doing it here (slip 1 knitwise / k2tog tbl & sl1 purlwise / p2tog) looks rather similar. But there are many theories on how to slip and on how to work 2 stitches together – just experiment in the future.

Now – turn the sock around (to the purl row) – slip the first stitch purlwise, purl until 1 stitch before the gap, purl the stitch before the gap and the one after together (p2tog), purl 1 – turn the work. Keep that up, row by row. After some time, it will look like this: right side (knit)

wrong side (purl)

Continue until the “gap” reaches the end of the row. On the last 2 rows you won’t be doing the k1 and p1 after the 2tog’s as there are now stitches left there – don’t slip the first stitch on the last (purl) row either! This now looks like this – on the left side of the heel:

the right side:

and the whole heel:

If you plan to stop working now – take a drink!! If you wanna go on – don’t!

So, now we’re up to the gusset, the thing that scares novice sock knitters most. The next round will be crazy, but after that you’re nearly conquered it!

So, the last row was a purl row. Now knit all 18 heel stitches that are left from the shaping. Now take a look at the backside of the side of the heel flap – where you did those first slipped stitches while just going back and forth:

See those large v-shaped stitches? There should be around 16 of those around. And now we’re going to pick up about 16 stitches up through them! For that, turn the work back to the other side, just as if you hadn’t taken a peek. The border of the heel flap now looks like this:

You might not see the first V – just start near the needle on top. If that makes you pick up one more stitch – great! If you miss it? Great, too! This really is the least important thing. Just any number of stitches between 14 and 20 will do! Just – try to stay constant on both sides of the heel, and note the stitches for the second sock.

So, now we pick up that first stitch, and knit it:

And after the second – it looks like this:

Now pick up the third …

… and so on. Just keep on doing it, nice and slow. If you mess up – just slide the dpn out of the stitches, and start anew. You’ll see, it’s not hard!

Now, one more thing. See something strange at the bottom V’s here(on the right)?

This always happens to me – I do 2 different kinds of turn and slip 1 purlwise. One creates smooth V’s, the other lines and pumps. Both are easy to pick up and knit through, so whatever you have – it is okay! because when you#’e done picking up those about 16 stitches -

- you don’t see the difference on the outside! And don’t feel it inside, neither. See, picking up stitches for the gusset, not the most precise thing in the world. After your 3rd sock you’ll be an expert there, and every other pattern will do it totally different from your style. Get used to it, you’re right nevertheless!

So, now, those lazy vacation needles #2 and #3 get some work too! Because now we’re ready to start knitting in the round again! This one should be a knit row (just check the purl bumps again!) – just work them as you did in the leg part before! JUST one more thing – keep the tension between the picked up stitches and the next 2-3 ones tight, so you don’t get holes on your ankle! (I still get them, and there are great ways to avoid them – just not now!)

[just ignore the fact that I'm a dork and am on the pattern row here!]

After knitting those two needles, you are now at the other side of the heel flap. Here, the same procedure as before is applied – pick up and knit about 16 stitches!

See that lightly colored V bump? That’s where the first stitch will be picked up!

Just go one … here’s another view, of the 4th:

… you know the drill already! Again, try to pick up the same number of stitches as on the other side of the heel flap!

Once you are done, it should look like this:

Now – feel free to drink booze, because the worst of the whole sock is behind you!!

Although, if you’re too drunk to read this now – stop it!!

So, for the most adventurous, now we start the decreases. But hey, you will say, we do have some 18 stitches left from the heel shaping! Why, of course!

Now knit those 18 stitches, with the dpn you picked up the stitches with just before. Looks like this, after a bit of wrestling (or using a 6th needle)

Now slide the last 9 stitches that you knit on your last free dpn. the other 9 will stay where they are. Use the DPN with the 9 already knit stitches to go on knitting – and you won’t need a 6th needle.

Now we are ready for the decreases!

If you followed my directions, you knit the two middle needles, #2 and #3, so now should come a k1,p1 pattern row there. Please ignore the following:

If you are like me, and can never follow even your own directions, you were on a k1,p1 row then. So now you just knit a whole round, until you’re ready for the next k1,p1 row down at those needles – and off we go with the rest!

So, in sync now again, we all knit down the side of the heel flap until the last 3 stitches.

Now, k2tog, k1. This will end you up with 2 instead of 3 stitches. One decreased!!

Next, just work the needles #2&3 in the k1,p1 pattern.

Now, on to the other side of the heel flap. Knit 1 stitch, ssk the next 2 – again making 2 stitches where 3 were before.

Knit the rest of the stitches on the needle!

You just did your first gusset decrease round!!

The next round will be a whole knit round – just knit all stitches on all 4 needles, no decreases here!

Then follows a decrease round, like the one before. Knit to the last 3 stitches on the one side of the heel flap, k2tog, k1. Work needles 2&3 in k1, p1 pattern. K1, ssk on thje second heel flap side. Knit to end of needle. Voilá!

Easy, now isn’t it? Just go on like this, and you’ll soon see the effect:

at the first side, the k2tog’s:

and the other, at the ssk’s:

Continue those 2 rounds (knit all stitches, decrease round) until you have – drumroll- 16!! (thanks for the notice!!) stitches on the heel flap needles! As in 16 stitches on all needles! As in you’re set for the foot part! As in you completed the second part of this CHUMtorial!!!

NOW – definitely get some booze.

Just for the nervous – your sock now should look like this:

Now I need some booze, too!!

As before, if you run into problems – just ask!

And if you want to reward me for my 60 pics shot, and 2 hours spent typing here – leave a comment! Thanks so much for the great feedback from last week!

On Tuesday, we’ll continue with the foot, and end this bugger by doing the perfect toe!!

p.s. who spotted the cat, and what’s that crazy orange/black thing in the background?

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