Monday, January 10, 2011

A Heel is Held

Hi Knitters,
I have my afterthought heel placement all set. See the skinny orange line of stitches? That's where my heel will go after the rest of the sock is knit. Now I have 5 1/2 inches to work on the foot. I am subtracting 4 inches from the total length of my regular sock to start the toe, which is 9 1/2 inches. Then I will add the two-color toe at the end of the foot, pink on one sock, green on the other.


By the way, some have asked, I won't be writing up the pattern for these socks because my socks are directly inspired by someone else's socks. Although they aren't exactly the same, they are very similar and I wouldn't feel right about that. You can make your own socks by plugging in some colorful stripes into a basic rib sock pattern like this one. Voila! They are yours.
Next, I put my needles back in for the heel stitches and pull out the heel holding orange yarn. Work one more toe for the heel in the main color, Shitake. Done deal.

Do you think it will work? I am such a top-down-heel-flap-gusset kind of girl. I am a little worried. I'll keep you posted. I am loving those stripes though. Anyone who complains about weaving in a few (or a lot) of ends doesn't see the pure beauty in stripes. Those few moments of weaving in is worth every bit of time and more to me.

Stripes make me happy.
best, susie

14 comments:

Toni said...

I love the two tone stripe colors, but I must confess that I'm one who doesn't like to weave in ends for stripes. They look great, but I would rather put cables around the entire diameter rather than weave in color ends!

Anonymous said...

I think I need a whole class on weaving in ends. That's the weakest point of my knitting, and why I never knit stripes. Remove them from every pattern - though I will do contrasting tops and bottoms.

Stefanie said...

Awesome, awesome colors, Susan. Can't to see this afterthought heel process. How interesting.

CelticCastOn said...

ohhh it looks so good! Can't wait to see the finished pair!

Jen said...

The sock is great--as is all of your work (I'm a long time fan and a first-time commenter.) My question is: how do you do the stripes so there isn't an obvious place where you joined the new color?

Thanks for inspiring me every day!

Jen

Cathy said...

Love the socks! I'm waiting to see how you do the heel. I've never seen this method. Let us know how it works out.

suesueb said...

Wonderful pattern and your inspiration has beautiful work too! I need to look up afterthought heels, never heard of it before. Can't wait to see the final production!!

Ally Jay said...

Stripes do look good.

Sara in WI said...

Love me some stripes!

Unknown said...

You're smart and you can do anything, so I have not doubt it'll work. The colours are so very yummy!

Kim said...

LOVE these socks. But I have to admit that I'm a newer sock knitter taught by myself just reading some basic patterns and have never seen a heel done like you are doing. Could you point me in the right direction to find some directions for this type? THANKS! :)

Kim

Connie, the daisyhead said...

Those are gorgeous! I love your color choices. Over the last year I have finally plunged into sock knitting. I'm not sure why I never cared to knit socks before. So now I may add a pair like these to my queue!

I'm another that's going to be watching your afterthought heel.

And you're right! This lady has lots of lovely items. My girls and I are loving her elephant scarf. Thanks for pointing her out!

Anonymous said...

Hey Susie,

You should do a tutorial on jogless stripes. Mine always seem to look uneven and funky! Thanks! Crystal

VeganCraftastic said...

I love stripes too! I have yet to try an afterthought heel, I don't usually stray too far from top down, heel flap gusset socks. But I'd love to try at some point.