Heel of my first sock - inside out?

#1

Hi everyone,

I’ve really benefited from everyone’s expertise and willingness to share thoughts & solutions over the last 10+ months. You’ve been a great help to me and you didn’t even know it - so thank you! (I’ve finally finished my first item since I last cast off some 20 years ago - yay for KH! Oh, and yay for me, too…)

I believe I’ve seen this asked/answered before, but didn’t have much luck finding it, so I’m hoping that someone can give me a hand. I badly want to be able to make socks, so am following Silver’s Sock Class (one sock on four DPNs) [http://www.cometosilver.com/socks/SockClass_Heel.htm]. I’m in the first part of the heel (making the flap), and I am chagrined to see that my stockinette is appearing on the inside of my tube. Is that where it’s [I]supposed[/I] to be, or am I somehow inside out/backwards (again - but let’s not go there)? The pattern reads:

Row 1 (on the right side of your work): Slip 1, Knit 1 Repeat between * across, turn work. (32 24 20 stitches)

Row 2 (wrong side): Slip one, purl across. (Slip ONLY the first stitch, purl the rest including the slipped stitches from row 1.)

Many thanks again for your insights and your lovely FO (in one of the other sections of the website)!

-triedandtrue

#2

Welcome!

If the stockinette is on the inside then you probably are knitting inside out. Here’s pictures of how you hold the needles.
http://community.knitpicks.com/notes/Knitting_in_the_Round

For the heel flap though you actually are only knitting on the heels stitches and you are knitting back and forth not in the round. The heel flap won’t really look like normal stockinette.

#3

Thanks very much, Jan!

I definitely began by knitting this sock inside out, and think that I may have magically reverted when I started to work on this heel flap. Knitting back and forth feels a bit foreign now…!

It seems as though the “stockinette” (you’re spot on - it’s definitely not normal) stitching will be on the inside of the heel, but I suppose that it won’t be the end of the world. I’m just glad that what I’m doing more or less matches what the various pictures and sites seem to indicate.

This is fun stuff!

Thanks again…!

#4

For the heel flap you should be knitting in stockinette stitch (knit a row, then turn and purl) unless there is another pattern you want on the flap. When you start working on turning the heel you should start on a purl row (in most patterns that I’ve read at any rate)

I’ve been driving my family nuts at turning a heel and shaping the gussett, lots of little practice projects all over. Now I’m agonizing over grafting the toe. There is some step I’m just not getting so I’ll keep trying until I get it right. It only takes a weekend to knit a stocking for Christmas, so I have a little time left. :wink:

#5

You can do that, but many patterns use a heel stitch which is what she wrote out. It’s sturdier and doesn’t get holes as quickly…or so they say. I never get holes in the back though only the bottom, but I do it anyway. :teehee:

We have a video here in KH on grafting/kitchener (tab above under videos) or you can look at this page for easy still photos. Once you get the hang of it it’s easy and looks really nice.
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html