Knitting the Heel of a Sock

I find that the heel is the most challenging part of sock knitting. I use a short row heel. I learned this technique in a sock making class. It's the one that I still do to this day, because it fits so well. I am also comfortable doing it, since I've repeated it so many times. It's a nice looking heel, I think.

For this style, you slip the first stitch, knit until you reach your  marker, and then do the wrap and turn. You are only working on half of your stitches. It's a very methodical technique. After you get halfway through, you switch to closing the gap. In the pattern I use, you either knit two stitches through the back loop, or you pearl two stitches together. Each row is progressive. It's very logical.


When I first learned this method, it took me hours to complete.  I sat in the yarn shop for three hours, after a two hour class. I needed constant help, because  I was a very green knitter. I finished it, though. I had to knit three pair of socks to really get the hang of it. My intuition told me that's what I needed to do, so I did. Since I'm a dancer, I'm used to practicing daily and working on technique. As the saying goes, "Anything worth having is worth working for." After finishing the third pair, I felt confident and capable. Mission accomplished.

I meet a lot of knitters who don't knit socks. Some have had a bad experience trying to learn, so they stopped. Some had trouble with the tiny needles.  Most struggled with the heel. It's not easy, but it's doable. I am amazed that some people are able to learn how to knit socks on line. I definitely needed someone there who was experienced. She could see things that I couldn't. Now my eyes are trained, and I can read the work. It's become easy and automatic, after hours of practice and repetition.

I like to knit the heels of my sock in one sitting. It takes a lot of concentration. I am not able to knit the heel of a sock in a knitting group, or in a social setting. I have to be by myself, with no interruptions. I'll write about knitting the toe of the sock in my next post. What kind of heel do you use on your socks?  Isn't this lovely sock yarn? I think that's my favorite part of knitting socks, watching the colors in the yarn unfold. Hand knit socks are really something special. I think they are worth the effort.