Become a Knitting Superstar™
Become a Knitting Superstar™
Become a Knitting Superstar™
Become a Knitting Superstar™
Become a Knitting Superstar™

Heel Choices

Lesson 16 - August 1, 2020

Heel Choices

Hi dears,

As you are working your way along the foot of your sock, here is some information inspired by student questions that will help you.

Knitting Toe or Gusset - Missed Increases

When you forget to increase fleegle heel Question: "I am still on the toe and have started over numerous times. Now I have 19 stitches on one needle and 20 on the other. Do I have to start over? I thought I had done all the increases but I guess I missed one."

Answer: Knitter, take heart! This happens to the best of us. You may run into this issue on the gusset (the section after the foot) as well.

Instead of taking out your work, drop a stitch a few rows down and re-do the missing increase. This video is part of your Toe-Up Socks class as well.

Video: When You Forget to Increase on Your Fleegle Heel Gusset

Heel Choices

Question: "I have reached the point of choosing which heel to make and I'm a little confused.

It looks to me as though you have three: basic, generic/fleegle, and heel flap. I would like to do the simplest for my first TAAT toe-up socks and then the other(s) when I knit subsequent socks. Would you please list them in order of difficulty?"

Answer: There are actually only two choices for the heel:

1) Basic (Generic/Fleegle) and
2) Faux-heel-flap.

The easiest one and the one I recommend you start with is the Basic heel. The basic toe-up sock pattern contains instructions for this very simple (and ingenious) heel called the Fleegle heel. The generic pattern I mentioned contains the same basic Fleegle heel.

Heel Videos

Close-up of faux heel flap Question: "I've been knitting your fingering-weight faux heel 2AAT toe up sock pattern. The written pattern describes wrapping and turning next in order to make the heel. Your video shows something else entirely. I'm lost."

Answer: For the faux-heel-flap socks, I have a separate video! There is a link to it in your pattern in the section "Work Faux Heel Flap," and there is also a bonus section in your Toe-Up Socks class all about the Faux-Heel-Flap heel.

Here is a link to the video: Video: How to knit the faux heel flap heel

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As always, I'm here for you if you have a question on your toe-up socks. You're doing great!

11 thoughts on “Heel Choices”

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  1. Liat, I’m wondering if I can take out the heel. I made it to the end of the first sock and realized I had a mistake, which in hindsight I should have kept going. Is there an easy way to backtrack. Hope you had time to relax. Thank you.

    1. Hi Joan,
      Great to hear from you! Yes, you can easily take out the heel. It is common to make mistakes on the heel the first time around.

      First, if you want help with the mistake you made on the heel, you can upload a picture of it with your reply.

      To take out the heel, just follow the steps for removing your knitting stitches one at a time:
      https://www.knitfreedom.com/blog/undo-knitting/

      If the above video doesn’t help you, please let me know! I can try to film something that’s exactly what you need.

      Thanks,
      Liat

  2. Liat, I’m trying to come up with a pattern for knitting baby socks (for charity) using the fleegle heel from medium weight yarn (like Simply soft —yes, I have better yarn than this, but want to use up my supply. Simply soft isn’t wool and it is very splitty). I last used size 3 US (3.25 mm) rocket sock needles from webs.com. (Have ripped out knitting at least 50 times).

    Here are my problems:

    1) I believe I have seen contradictory instructions. (Don’t ask me where, because I can’t find anything right now). One instruction says to increase until there are 2 more stitches on the heel than on the instep needle. The other instruction says to increase until there are 4 more stitches on the heel than on the instep needle. Since I must start with no more (or no less) than 14 stitches, the heel must be either 16 or 18 stitches. But 16 is much too low and 18 isn’t much better! The socks turn out much too straight, even if I go to 18 stitches before turning the heel. I liked the fleegle heel because it is much easier to understand than the other heel instructions. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. lol

    2. I have learned that I must be signed on to see your videos. But I have a horrible time finding the right video. For example, I can’t find the file that shows how to get back to 14 stitches on each needle! Grrr. I get lost in the maze of files!

    3. I have only apple devices and my iMac has been upgraded to Catalina, so I can’t download the files because Knit Freedom’s videos aren’t compatible with my version (10.15.6), — unless I’m missing something.

    Here is more info, just in case it helps: I took your toe up class several years ago, and took it again, because I wanted to relearn how to do it now (since I haven’t knitted for at least 3 years). As I recall, it was easy then. But times have apparently changed. It’s true that I wasn’t so particular, though, and I finished 4 or 5 pairs of socks (using tiny sock yarn!!! and the 2 at a time method on circular needles. Your videos were excellent, as I recall. (Probably, if I came out with too many or too few stitches, I just decreased or increased as needed).

    4. This isn’t your problem, but just so you will know: I have limited time and am under stress from other sources. I need to get back to Elias, too, but there hasn’t been time.

    Joanne

    1. Elias - Customer Happiness

      Hi Joanne,

      For the knitting issue Liat will be out of the office from Thursday, August 6th until Monday, August 10th, 2020. She’ll do by best to answer you on Monday. Thanks for your patience!

      I have sent you an email almost a week ago, is it possible to reply to that email in order to assist you? 😊

      Thanks,
      Elias

    2. Hi Joanne,
      1) I double-checked the pattern. The gusset instructions read,

      “Gusset
      Round 1:
 Needle 1 (heel needle): K1, M1L, K to last st on needle, M1R, K1.

      Needle 2 (instep needle): Knit.
      Round 2: Knit.

      Repeat Rounds 1-2, stopping when you have, on the heel needle, two less than the total number of sock stitches you had for the foot.

      For example: If you had 28 sts total for the foot, increase for the gusset until you have 26 stitches on the heel needle. You will still have 14 sts on the instep needle.”

      To reiterate, you need to have two fewer stitches on the heel needle when you are done increasing for the gusset, than you had total around the foot.

      You can find the pattern by going to Patterns in the menu bar. The Generic Toe-Up Sock pattern is in that first section of Most Popular Patterns.

      Here is a link straight to the pattern:
      https://www.knitfreedom.com/free-pattern/generic-pattern-for-toe-up-socks-with-a-fleegle-heel-in-any-weight-and-size/

      2) I’m sorry you’re having trouble finding the right video! The easiest way to access your videos is to go to the online version of the class. Go to My Classes in the menu bar and select Toe-Up Socks.

      You can go straight to the video you’re looking for with this link: https://www.knitfreedom.com/my-classes/toe-up-socks/knit-the-foot-and-heel/#final-heel-decreases

      3) You can absolutely download our video files to your computer. There is no compatibility issue with KnitFreedom and Mac OS Catalina on any version. Go to your Video Downloads page by clicking My Account > Video Downloads in the menu bar and follow the instructions on that page to download your videos to your computer. You can then transfer them to your iPhone or iPad. Elias can help you with this if you have any trouble.

      I hope this helps!
      Hugs,
      Liat

  3. I am having trouble with turning the heal. My heel needle has 30 stitches on it. I placed the marker in the middle so I have 15 stitches on either side of the marker. Row 1: K to 2 stitches beyond marker, SSK, K 1, turn. Row 2: Sl 1, P5 removing the marker as you come to it, P2 tog, P1, turn. My problem is on Row 2. I Sl 1 but I only have 4 stitches until the stitch before the gap. I followed the concept of knitting up to the gap, working the two sets on either side of the gap, work one more, and turning. When I got to the K1 after the last SSK, I still had 7 stitches left on the other (purl) side. My heel is off-centered. Any ideas? Thank you for your help. Lita

    1. Hi Lita,
      How are you?! I’m sorry your heel isn’t working out. I’m reading what you wrote and here are my thoughts:
      Normally, when the heel is off-center it’s because you forgot to do a k1 or a p1 after your decrease. This will easily put your heel off-center by one stitch.
      Secondly, on Row 2, you will not have a gap yet. You are just doing the very first decrease on the purl side. You will slip 1 (the stitch you knitted), p3, reach the marker, remove the marker, p2, and then do your p2tog, p1.
      Then on Row 3 and beyond you will have a gap to knit to.
      What do you think? Does this help?
      Thanks,
      Liat

  4. Patricia Robertson

    I finished my socks! So happy with them. I knitted a cable up the front. Thanks so much for this wonderful lesson. I also made dishcloths from your pattern. I had leftover cotton yarn from the chemo caps I made for my daughter a few years ago (she’s fine).

    1. Wow they look fabulous! I love that you decided to make them more challenging by knitting a cable up the front. Thank you for posting pictures!
      Cheers,
      Liat
      PS – That’s great news about your daughter, thank goodness!

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