Heel Help

44 Responses to “Heel Help”

On January 30th, 2008 at 5:36 am adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

this is a short row heel. just because the center of the heel is labeled “beginning of round” does not make it the beginning of the heel stitches. whatever you do, do not break your yarn.

sometimes, you need to be a blind follower. after round 26 of the leg, you need to center the pattern over the instep. round 1 of heel: you will knit — sts (according to your size) these will become part your heel sts.
round 2 of heel: (you are turning the sock (wrong side now) and will be purl — sts.
then just continue following the instructions.

does this help? there are some tutorials on short row heels which might help you see this process better.

On January 30th, 2008 at 5:40 am rabbitsknit said:

Erin, What type of needles are you using? 2 circulars would have 3 pattern repeats already on one needle which sets you up for the heel. So then that gets to my question of where doe the other 6 stitches (39) since I am knitting the medium come into play?

I must be making it too hard. The numbers aren’t adding up. If I take the six stitches off the other needle then when I start the foot - I add 36 stitches for foot and pm and work 33 lace stitches I end up with 69 stitches - where are the extra 3 stitches? What am I doing wrong? (and yes, math is not my strong suit so stop laughing out there)

Please help Erin and I understand this heel. Thanks to everyone for there help.

On January 30th, 2008 at 5:41 am Erin Martin said:

I often follow blindly but this time I don;t get what to do.

This is where I am lost: “after round 26 of the leg, you need to center the pattern over the instep.”

So when I am finished with round 26, I start right there, knitting three repeats of the pattern and then turn?

It’s the “centering over the instep” that confuses me.

On January 30th, 2008 at 5:42 am Erin Martin said:

I am using dpn.

On January 30th, 2008 at 6:01 am adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

after round 26, you are no longer knitting the pattern repeats. you are beginning the heel. you will need to readjust your stitches to work the short row heel.

(here is where you start knitting blindly) if you are knitting the medium sock, round 1: you will be knitting 35 sts then w&t (which makes 36 sts). now you are working round 2 (ws); and are purling 37 sts (which is 2 more than you knit on round 1) then w&t (39 sts). this will automatically center the pattern over the instep.

On January 30th, 2008 at 6:05 am adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

i should add that i am using 60% of the sts for a deeper short row heel. you will only have 22 (25, 29) sts resting.

On January 30th, 2008 at 6:59 am Erin Martin said:

Adrienne, Ok, so I get that I am knitting stockinette and wrapping. But, do I start the heel when I am finished with round 26, knit 35, w&t, and pearl back? I don’t get how this is centering over the instep. Or even what that means.

On January 30th, 2008 at 7:47 am Tara said:

All the centering is refering to is that you want a nice pretty set of the patterned lace on the front of the leg to lead into the top of the foot once the heel is done.

I believe the answer to your question is yes. Knit round 26 then start the heel stitches, only knitting the first 35 stitches and then turning around to purl back.

Your goal is to have 3 sets of your 11 sts lace that you aren’t knitting on during the heel process. Does any of that help at all?

On January 30th, 2008 at 7:51 am adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

yes, after round 26, you are starting the heel instructions -row 1 IS k35, w&t; row 2: purl 37, w&t; etc. continue following the heel directions. do not worry about “centering the instep”. this happens automatically when you are working the heel. i have done all the guesswork already.

“centering over the instep” just means that the lace pattern will be even over your foot. it is cosmetic; just to make the sock look nice on your instep. you do not need to do anything except follow the directions. easy-peasey! really. just be a blind follower.

On January 30th, 2008 at 8:14 am rabbitsknit said:

Ardienne in the bellybutton, since you are doing a wonderful job here explaining, keep going please…… Ok, I am blindly following. I have finished row 26 and have knit 35 w&t and p 37 w&t etc and finished the heel and everything is beautiful. Now explain the foot part. What do I do after I have completed my last row of the heel and am ready to k 36 pm and work lace for 33? Does it come out right? (As you can see I am standing on that cliff scared to jump)

On January 30th, 2008 at 8:53 am adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

……….JUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!

what will happen here is that you really only have 66 sts on your needles…39 sts for the heel and 27 sts for the resting (i obviously did my subtraction wrong in the previous post…66-39 = 27 not 25). by knitting “36 sts; PLACE MARKER TO INDICATE START OF LACE INSTEP”, you are now moving some of the heel sts back to the instep. from that point, rearrange your needles so you have 33 sts for the instep and 33 sts for the sole.

……..JUMP! the water’s fine! i hope you can swim! LOL!!

On January 30th, 2008 at 9:33 am Erin Martin said:

thanks, got it.

On January 30th, 2008 at 10:51 am Jessi Koput said:

If it helps at all, I am making the large and jumped blindly into the water. Heel came out as it was supposed to. Unfortunately, when I tried it on, the heel is too deep - I have to frog it That is for tonight…

On January 30th, 2008 at 11:01 am rabbitsknit said:

Ardienne,
Thanks so much…..you have been a blessing today. Thanks for talking me through it today. I will jump when I get home this afternoon. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. I know enough to just follow the directions but I have a “newbie” working with me and she was asking questions and got me thinking (and scared). Have a wonderful evening.

On January 30th, 2008 at 2:19 pm Fara said:

This has been such a help since I too had problems, however, for some reason had an extra stitch, so you guessed it, I frogged the whole sock and am starting from scratch. ugh but the sock looks great doesn’t it. didn’t mind ripping. thanks for the help and explainations.

On January 30th, 2008 at 2:42 pm adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

i so enjoy knitting with str that i don’t mind frogging (well, i do mind frogging). i just figure that i am really getting my money and play value out of the yarn. it does hold up to multiple trips to the frog pond. don’t ask me how i know (groan)

On January 30th, 2008 at 4:49 pm LBinVA said:

Aha! The STR frog pond—that’s where I know you from! I agree that STR is a yarn I don’t mind frogging, if I have to. But so far so good with your design, Adrienne—it’s looking lovely!

On January 31st, 2008 at 9:10 am Liesl said:

I’m also frogging back, as I think the heel is too deep for me. I noticed on the pattern pictures that the heel seems to have some loose fabric at the tip of the heel there too. Anyone else making modifications to the heel to adjust this?

On January 31st, 2008 at 3:56 pm Chrissie said:

Liesl…I’m probably not going to go all the way down to 9 unwrapped stitches on the heel…I’ll probably stop at 11 or 13. That should take care of the loose fabric. I’ll see when I get there.

On January 31st, 2008 at 4:48 pm adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

you can also go with 50% of the stitches if that is the heel that fits you best. there is no one best heel/toe, etc that will work for everyone.

On February 1st, 2008 at 12:40 am uppitypenny@gmail.com said:

I’m making the size large. After trying the heel as written, it was just too deep for me. So I frogged it and did it over on the 36 stitches opposite the pattern, down to 8 stitches and back out, with the two ends double wrapped but not knitted until starting the foot. That worked fine, and now I’m going down the foot. My stripes are getting a little thicker than when I started, but at least they’re still stripes.

Anybody knitting size large who also had heel trouble might try this.

On February 2nd, 2008 at 1:07 pm Margy said:

I’m having heel trouble too….I’m making the medium. After doing K35 and wrapping and turning the next stitch-(three unwrapped stitches and one wrapped stitch on the right hand needle)- I don’t have 37 stitches to purl back on. Am I supposed to be counting the four stitches that I didn’t knit? If so, I would purl to the last stitch and wrap and turn it but then it wouldn’t match the number of unworked stitches I had on the knit side. Am I making this too complicated? Help!

On February 2nd, 2008 at 4:39 pm adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

margy- you are making it more complicated than it is. you will be “borrowing” 3 more sts from the “instep” sts you will need to rearrange your sts to knit the heel. just follow the directions. it will work.

On February 2nd, 2008 at 4:40 pm adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

margy- read comment #5 on this thread.

On February 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm Margy said:

Hooray!! The heel is lovely but I have ended up with the original 66 stitches and the pattern calls for 69 at this point before starting the foot. Maybe I shouldn’t add the “Knit 36 sts” and the “Work 33 sts” together but that’s the only thing that makes sense to me. So, should I have 66 or 69 stitches now? Thanks for your help–it’s an amazement to be getting help from the designer of the pattern! I’m a new sock club member but not a new knitter and I am just now feeling like a klutz! Again–thanks for your help.

On February 3rd, 2008 at 8:47 am Ann Valdez said:

I frogged the heel last night. The centering made sense to me, actually. The heel is too deep and the working second half of heel part confuses me.. I love the sturdiness of the k1 sl1 weaved heel so I think I am trying to allow myself to make that deviation. I didn’t find this strand until several hours of struggling. I thought I was alone.

On February 3rd, 2008 at 8:51 am adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

margy- you do end up with 66 sts after the heel. now you can rearrange the sts so you are working with 33 sts for the instep again…33 sts for the sole. you are right on! keep going.

On February 3rd, 2008 at 11:24 am Margy said:

Hooray! Here I go then. (Just where is the “bellybutton” of California?–Fresno?)
Thanks again.

On February 3rd, 2008 at 6:47 pm Joann said:

I’m “finished” with the first part of the heel and down to one stitch - “row 5″ has me totally confused. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do now. Help! I’ve read and reread the instructions and they make absolutely no sense to me - but I’m use to the regular way of doing heels so… I need help badly - and in plain English.

On February 4th, 2008 at 5:01 am adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

hi joann

you are now knitting the “other half” of the short row heel to turn it into a “cup”. what you want to do is knit across the 7(9,9) unwrapped sts. you should be at the first wrapped st on the left side of the heel. you will knit that st then w&t the 2nd wrapped st on the left side. you are making the heel wider again.

there are many tutorials on-line showing the short row heel. if you need more help, i will try to find a tutorial to post.
you are doing fine.

On February 4th, 2008 at 10:18 am Joann said:

You, Adrienne, are a dear soul. I feel like such an incompetent. One last question - for now - do I rip back so that there are 7 unwrapped stitches. I was under the impression that I needed to wrap until there was one. As you can tell, short rows ain’t my specialty. I’m also fairly new to socks, having started last year.

On February 4th, 2008 at 10:25 am adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

yes, you want to rip back so there are 7 unwrapped sts if you are knitting the small. 9 unwrapped if you are knitting the medium or large.

On February 9th, 2008 at 2:08 pm Pam Kanthor said:

When you start back doing the lace do you start with row 1 of the lace pattern or row 27?

On February 10th, 2008 at 10:56 am adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

after you finish the heel, you want to continue with the pattern as established which would be row 27.

On February 10th, 2008 at 8:07 pm LisaLoooooo said:

Wow, you guys are really a GREAT group!!! This is my first year with RSC and so far, I’m amazed at everything! I love the yarn, I love the pattern, I love the blog, I love how well you all explain stuff, I could go on and on! I’m stuck at the heel (not anymore since I read everyone’s posts!) so I thought I’d take a peek here and see who else complicates things all by themselves. Gimme an easy, well written pattern and I can still end up feeling like I’m trying to decipher some secret knit-speak! Phew, thanks fellow sock knitters!

On February 11th, 2008 at 5:12 pm Pat Hyatt said:

When it says knit to last unwrapped stitch, w&t is it one stitch before the wrapped stitch?

On February 12th, 2008 at 6:53 am adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

hi pat,
you poor thing, you are lost way back here where i don’t know if very many people tread any more.

which row of the heel are you on? it might make a difference as to which unwrapped st you are referring to.

On February 12th, 2008 at 8:17 am Pat said:

Hi, I am on the 3rd row of the heel. I knitted to the last stitch and w&t, then purled to last stitch w&t and am now at the next to the last stitch on the k row. If I ever get through this and I reach row 5, when I knit the wrapped stitch, do I k the wrap with the stitch? I do love the yarn and the color, I just hope it gets easier. Thanks

On March 2nd, 2008 at 11:46 am Jamie L Henderson said:

Hi. Just wanted to drop a note saying thanks for this thread. I found the heel instructions a bit confusing as well (and I’ve done only short row heels; so I thought I was reasonably familiar with how to do that). This thread helped a lot, and also made me feel better that I was not alone in my mild confusion.

On March 11th, 2008 at 12:19 pm Holly Monek-Anderson said:

Hi. I’ve read through all these threads, still having problems, and even my knitting teacher who is an expert knitter couldn’t help. I’m working on two circulars size medium. For the lace I had 33 stitches on each needle. On the last row of the lace pattern (row 26, a knit row) I moved 3 stitches from each end of one needle to the second needle so the 39 stitches would be centered over the 27 lace stitches on the instep. (I had to knit the three stitches on one side again.)

I then knit across the instep so that I would be back to RS knit for row 1 of the heel.

I knit 35, did the wrap and turn, but did not have enough stitches on that needle to purl 37. To purl 37 I would need to go to the needle with the instep stitches.

What am I missing?

Thanks very much, Holly

On March 11th, 2008 at 2:52 pm adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

hi holly

the easiest way to do this is to finish row 26. then tink back 3 sts. move those 3 onto the new circular (this will be your heel needle). knit those 3 BUT don’t count them when you knit row 1 for the heel. now knit row 1 for the heel which is k 35: ie, knit the 33 heel sts. then move 3 more sts from your instep needle to the heel. knit 2 more sts then do your w&t (that will be 33+2= k35, w&t).

you might be working the heel from the wrong needle. you do not knit across the instep sts to start the heel.

does this make any sense?

On March 11th, 2008 at 3:16 pm Holly Monek-Anderson said:

Hi Adrienne,

Thanks, I do think it makes sense. Would it also be possible to just leave the 33 stitches on each needle, and do the k35, w&t, and then the p37, w&t, even though it would mean working the heel on parts of the two needles, instead of just one needle? Or perhaps that is just too confusing??…

Thanks,

Holly

On March 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

it would be easy to work all the heel on one needle; then move the sts back to the instep needle when you are finished. i don’t know about you but i would get confused when i worked my way back on the other half of the heel if i had my heel sts on two different needles.

On March 11th, 2008 at 3:36 pm adrienne in the bellybutton of california said:

oops, typo:

should read: “it would be EASIER” not “easy”. duh!

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