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

Knit the Foot and Heel

Knit the Foot and Heel

Knit Foot

When to Start the Fleegle Heel

A big issue for first-time knitters of toe-up socks is knowing when to start increasing for the Fleegle heel. Fleegle describes the time to start increasing as “when the knitting reaches the front of your ankle.”

I don’t know about you, but my ankle has more of a gradual transition than a demarcation where my foot turns into my leg.

To overcome this issue, here’s what to do:
Flex your foot as much as you can — this helps the “front of the ankle” become more apparent.

Pull the sock onto your foot (which of course is easy because you’re using Magic Loop), and hold it as snug as you’d like it when you’re wearing it. If the knitting reaches the crook in your ankle, you’re ready to start the Fleegle heel increases.

Use both hands to pull the sock on. You can see that my knitting is stretched snug and hits what, over time, I have come to judge as the front of my ankle.

If you’re not sure, better start increasing. Most people just learning this technique tend to wait too long to start the heel.

Continue to knit even until your socks reach the fronts of your ankles, as shown in the video below. Once they are at this point, you are ready to start making the heel.


Increase for Gusset

You’ll be increasing again, just like you did for the toe, only this time, only increase on one side of the sock – the “heel” needle.

Increase following the pattern and the video above until you have the specified number of stitches on your heel needle.

Tip: so that you don’t have to write anything down, review the video above on how to tell where you are on your increasing.


Tip: If You Forgot to Increase for Gusset

When you forget to increase fleegle heel

Many people forget to increase on the left side of their knitting when doing the gusset for the Fleegle Heel. All of a sudden you’ve got 19 stitches on one toe-up Fleegle heel and 20 on the other.

To fix it, drop your stitch down and re-add the M1. You can do it!

KNITFreedom - Troubleshooting Toe-Up Heel: Forgetting To Increase
KNITFreedom - Troubleshooting Toe-Up Heel: Forgetting To Increase


Turn Heel

Short rows on Fleegle heel

If this is your first time turning a heel, make sure you have a quiet spot and no one talking to you.

Watch the video and then follow along in the pattern. Once you have turned one heel, go directly to the second sock and do it all over again, with the second ball of yarn, only this time, check out the next video and see if you want to try it.

[KnitFreedom] Socks | Heels - No-Holes Fleegle Heel for Toe-Up Socks
[KnitFreedom] Socks | Heels - No-Holes Fleegle Heel for Toe-Up Socks


Bonus – How To Knit (Well, Purl, Really) Backwards

This technique is optional, but take a look and see if you feel comfortable trying it.

It will save you a lot of time because if you know how to do it, you don’t have to turn your work back and forth every row.

This technique is very useful in Entrelac knitting, where you constantly have to turn your work after only a few stitches, and, of course, in turning any sock heels or doing any kind of short-rows.

[KnitFreedom] Knit Backwards: Save Time By Knitting Backwards
[KnitFreedom] Knit Backwards: Save Time By Knitting Backwards


Final Heel Decreases

When you finish turning the heel, you’re almost done.

You’ll need to work a few more rounds with strategically-placed decreases to bring the number of stitches on your heel needle back down to the original count.


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