Garter Stitch Short Row Heel and Toe

Garter Stitch Short Row Heel and Toe

Are you ready for another heel and toe episode? This post will be photo heavy and like always, the photos are clickable.

I must confess that I have made this heel and toe before and I DO like it.

It surprised me that I was actually able to match up the stripes. I usually don't get that effect and don't strive to make it happen. Serendipity.

This is a nice short row heel that uses a different strand of yarn for the heel than what was used in the rest of the sock. If you have someone who wears out a heel, then use this heel so you can easily remove the it, pick up the live stitches and knit another one.

To start, drop the main yarn used for the sock. Don't cut it because you will be using it after you finish the heel. I usually stick the whole skein inside the shaft of the sock leg to keep it out of the way. This is an opportunity to use another color like, say, black or red for the heel if you want. To make a nice fitting heel I usually knit this heel over 60% of the stitches. In this case, I had 36 stitches on the heel needle.

Link the tail of the new yarn around the working yarn. I will then knit the next three stitches using both strands of the new yarn so it gets anchored. Then drop the actual tail and continue to knit until there is one stitch left on the left needle.

At this point slip that last stitch onto the right needle, bring the yarn around to front wrapping that stitch. Now turn the work around and once again knit until there is one stitch left on the left needle. Slip that stitch, wrap the yarn, turn and start knitting again.

Knit until one stitch before the wrapped stitch. (You can tell the wrapped stitch because it will be wearing a little necklace of yarn.) Slip the stitch before the wrapped stitch, put the yarn between the needles and turn your work.

Start knitting until you once again are at the stitch before the wrapped stitch. Keep up this rhythm until you have approximately 8 unwrapped stitches in the middle of your work. You should have an equal number of wrapped stitches on each side of these unwrapped ones.

Now it's just a matter of increasing the stitches again. Knit the 8 unwrapped stitches and then knit one previously wrapped stitch, slip the next wrapped stitch, put the yarn between the two needles, replace the slipped stitch onto the left needle, turn.

Knit until you get to the next wrapped stitch, knit it, slip the next wrapped stitch, put the yarn between the two needles, replace the stitch, turn.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

This makes a wonderful fitting heel albeit fiddly to do.

The toe is worked as follows:
Rnd1: K1, ssk, knit to 3 stitches before the end, k2tog, k1
Rnd2: purl
Rnd3: knit
Rnd4: purl
Repeat these four rows once more.

Now repeat rnds 1 and 2 for 4-8 rows.

Do the following two rounds until you have your desired number of toe stitches left. I like a very rounded toe, so I usually leave 10-12 stitches on each needle (20-24 stitches total).
Rnd 1A: K1, ssk, knit to 3 stitches before the end, k2tog, k1
Rnd 1B: p1, ssp, purl to 3 stitches before the end, p2tog, p1

Whew! It was a difficult thing to take photos in the middle of turning a heel. This is probably clear as mud, huh?

For more On The Needles, visit JudyL.