Skeinspotting

There is a lot of socking going on...

I can't really show the whole thing or offer any kind of description or explanation, but here is a little bit of a tease, some bits and pieces of socky stuff going on. I am not idle, far from it!


I have spent such a long time on this project, mainly because of the self striping yarn which I wanted to work in a particular way and would only do so on a very specific no of stitches and needle sizes.

However, I am now on the sock proper and the swatches have paid off.

Short Row Heel, Short Row Heaven...At Last!

After knitting many mini heels, I have finally perfected my short row heel technique so that there are no spaces, no holes and no unsightly bits of twisted wrap on the right side of the work. So this my preferred method although no pics yet, the above is someone else's short row heel, not mine.

1. Knit to last stitch, yfwd, slip 1 p- wise, yb, slip stitch back on to LH needle and turn.

2. Instead of purling across, pull tight and slip 1 p-wise then purl to last stitch

3. yb, slip 1 p-wise yfwd, slip stitch back onto LH needle and turn,

4. Instead of knitting across, slip 1st st p-wise, then knit to last st unwrapped.

Continue like this until desired number of sts wrapped, i.e. unwrapped sts in centre are the correct width for the back of heel.

Then to lengthen rows again

1. Knit to first wrapped stitch. Use RH needle point, pick up wrap with tip on wrong side, and twist at back of work then K wrap and stitch together, turn

2. Sl 1 p-wise, purl across to first wrapped stitch and this time use tip of RH needle down to pick up wrap on front, still the wrong side of the work and twist and purl wrap and stitch together, turn

3. Sl 1 pwise then knit to next wrapped stitch....etc

Continue until all wrapped stitches are knitted again, but on the last knit row, pick up wrap and knit across to join back into round, then pick up the purl wrap as you come around again, this avoids any nasty little holes but you can put a couple of extra stitches to avoid a little hole or gap, then decrease these stitches away on next rounds if you wish.

Being consistent in how you pick up your wraps, and twisting them tightly makes sure no unsightly blobs occur and make sure you do this on the wrong side of the work, you will find a little line shows on the right side but no gaps. The gaps which I don't like on a non lacy sock, are avoided if each row knitting or purling back, the first stitch is pulled tight and slipped thus minimising the 'step that occurs between worked and unworked stitches.

Right, I am off to knit a full size heel (instead of my little dolly mini samples)............