I am having trouble figuring out how to knit this sock pattern:
First, I cast on 48 sts. I then divided on to three needles and K in the rnd the following pattern- P1 K3 rib for my desired length.
Then divide stitches for heel: (the bold is what I had trouble following)
24 sts on #1 needle
12 sts for #2 & #3 needle
[B]Work back & forth on the #1 needle as follows:
Rnd 1 (right side): Sl1, K1 rep between * across
Rnd 2: Sl1, P rem sts across. Work 24 rows.
You will have half the # of slipped sts making it easy to count.
[/B]
So do I repeat rnds 1 & 2 for the next 24 rows?
Hello! My, am I glad to see this post! I’m fairly new at knitting and completely new socks, and I’m having problems understanding how the heel stitches teaart is talking about divide and stack up based on the total number of stitches.
Here are my questions, which will kind of answer each other probably (as they all stem from each other):
do the heel stitches always have to be an even number? (thus if I cast on 66 stitches, and later have to divide them in half for the heel, that would put 33 stitches on the heel; therefore, I would end up slipping the last stitch of the row rather than k/p’ing it.)
do the stitches stack up so that you’re knitting and purling slipped stitches on every other row? In other words, all the stitches I slipped on the knit row, will I then purl on the purl row? (as opposed to the same stitches are slipped every row).
I hope that makes sense. When I started the heel of my first sock lesson, I couldn’t figure out if it was breaking the pattern to slip both first and last stitches (as I had an odd number on the needle), and I couldn’t find anything that addressed this question.
Thank you all so much for your help! I love this forum!!!
To answer backwards-- first, your number 2 question:
If I’m understanding your question, the answer is “yes”. Here’s what happens-- the heel flap is done in that slip stitch thing to pull it in a bit, reinforce it a bit, and cushion it a bit. So on the right side you slip 1, K1 across, and on the wrong side, you purl everything (although usually you do slip the first stitch on the purl row, just to keep the edges of the flap even with each other). If you slipped the same sts on both right and wrong sides, those sts would never get worked and it would bunch up (vertically) something awful.
Now, for question number 1:
Pretty much yes, in a standard, nothin’ fancy sock pattern, the sts should always be an even number. Here’s why-- The legs of socks are almost always worked in an even number because they are usually ribbed at the top, or even sometimes the entire length of the leg. That works out better evenly-- although you could K3, P2 and do it for 9 repeats and therefore have 45 sts, for example. But it’s most common to do it in an even number. The circumference of the foot is generally knit in the same amount of sts as the leg, and THAT should be even because when you come to the toe decreases, you want an identical number on the top of the foot and the bottom. Working the Slip 1/K1 pattern of the heel flap is easier worked over an even number of sts.
So what’s the difference of 1 st, which is all it would take to change from an even to an odd number? Of course, pretty much nothing, when it comes to the size of the finished sock. But keeping track and making all the changes from leg to heel flap to turning the heel to the gusset to the foot to the toe just works far more easily with even numbers, and there’s really no reason to do it differently. As I said, this is for basic socks. With lace patterns or other fancy work, there may be a need to use odd numbers of sts. I, however, have no experience with that, as I adhere to the school of thought that there is a limited view people are going to get of your socks, and if you’re going to do something such as lace, then it should be at eye level where everyone can see it!
Aha! You are so smart to have figured out my nonsense! My goodness, thank you so much for writing such a wonderfully detailed response. The book I’m following is terribly scant in technical details.
You answered my biggest question right off, and I am so embarrassed: I read the second row of the heel pattern wrong! I thought stitches were being slipped on both k & p rows, but it was just the knit row. I knew I was doing something wrong, and though I read the pattern over and over, I still read it as slipping on both rows. (insert grand eye-roll).
But good things come from mistakes, no? My very good sewing friend says we learn by “messing up” (though she prefers a slightly more crass way of saying it). And having that odd number of stitches on the heel flap turned up some good awareness points for me.
I made a lot of progress today because of the time you took to figure out my question! Thank you SO BIG and much!
Thanks so much for the wonderful note! Glad to help! So many knitting patterns these days are written and edited so badly, or at the very least, the writers just don’t think about how it reads to someone on the other end, especially someone with little or no experience. So I’m so glad to hear you’re now on the right track!
All your questions will be answered. Well, about knitting socks anyway.
You scroll down and choose which method you want to learn. There are several ways to knit socks and they are pretty much all there. They will help you a bunch.
imrachel, this was helpful to me as well. I just finished my first sock attempt (turned out pretty good) but I like to know why things are done a certain way. Your explanation is great!!
So many knitting patterns these days are written and edited so badly, or at the very least, the writers just don’t think about how it reads to someone on the other end, especially someone with little or no experience. So I’m so glad to hear you’re now on the right track!