Ribbing, tinking, knits and purls

How-to Questions
1

i’m super over-tired and shouldn’t have tried it, but just 10 minutes of knitting before bed to calm my brain… ha, as if… :wink:

i plain knit half a round of a sock that was supposed to be in k2/p1 ribbing pattern. so i said ok, no problem, i’ll just tink it. except, when i did that i put the previous round’s stitches back on the left needle all as knits.

which was dumb, right? i was supposed to do it in pattern…? knits as knits with right legs front, and purls as purls with left legs front… yes?

it’s only 26 stitches total on that half, so it’ll be easy to fix, but wanted to double check before i do that tomorrow…

many thanks, and now off to sleepy dreamy land…

2

I knit with both knit and purl sts mounted the same way on the needle, right leg in front. Usually, tinking leaves the sts in the correct orientation but even if the sts get turned around, you can correct each as you work the stitch.
All of this will seem much clearer after a good night’s sleep!

3

ok, so far they’re all mounted as knits, so i’ll run with that after today’s work and chores :wink: thanks much!

4

ok, i got it fixed. for these socks i’m using liat gat’s toe-up socks with heel flap and i’m now to:

Section 3: Gusset
Increase round 1: (K1, M1L, k 22(26,30), M1R, k1), k to end of rnd.
Note: the stitches between the parentheses above are the ‘heel stitches.’ Keep in mind that the
’heel needle’ refers to these stitches, even if you are using DPNs.
Round 2: K.
Round 3: (K1, M1L, k to 1 st before the end of heel needle, M1R, k1), k to end of rnd.
Repeat Rounds 2-3 until the heel contains 46(50,54) sts – 22 sts increased.
High instep: Repeat rounds 2-3 until heel contains 48(52,56) sts – 24 sts increased.
Very high instep: Repeat rounds 2-3 until heel contains 50(54,58) sts – 26 sts increased.
Note: If you are knitting two socks at a time, make sure you are at the very BOR and not in
between two socks before starting the next section. Also, work sections 4 (“turn heel”) and 5
(“faux heel flap”) on the first sock before moving on to the second sock.

ok, so for the stitches i have, and because i’m using worsted on size 5/6 needles, and my gauge, etc etc, i have 52 stitches total, on magic loop… half (26) on the top side being worked in k2/p1k2 ribbing, and half (26) being worked in plain knit (for stockinette).

so i’m not sure how many to increase in the increase round, and then how many i should work up to during steps 2 and 3… am i basically going to turn the 26 bottom stitches into 52, and then start working back down to 26 again? i watched liat’s videos and i get the how to part… but i don’t get the math part on this…

but then scratch all that, because when i went onto youtube to double check the videos in case they had the math spelled out for me, i found a liat gat one where she’s just increasing the heel side of the stitches until that side is double-minus-2 (so if you had 20, it’d be 38, if you had 33 it’d be 64, etc), while simultaneously just working the front/instep stitches as usual… which seems so much easier…

so is that last thing the way to go, or did i just go 'round the bend and make this more complicated for myself than need-be?

5

Can you give us a link to the pattern or the video?
In Liat’s tutorial for ww toe-up socks, she recommends the (heel sts x2) minus 2 method for the gusset.


(this link requires a sign up for her newletter)

6

the video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmYhggEeWcs but i’m not using her pattern, per se… just the method.

7

It looks like for this video Liat does 15sts for the instep and 2x that for the heel. It’s close to the 2x-2 and you can do either depending on how roomy you like the heel. It’s not much difference.

8

yeah, i’m doing the “twice minus two” increasing on just the heel side, and it’s working out ok so far. one sock at a time tho, and i put a lifeline in, just in case i have to frog… thanks for the help :wink:

9

In this pattern she has one size that calls for 28 sts each needle. I’d do an extra increase on the heel needle and follow these numbers. I can tell you from experience that even if your count is off somehow your heels should still be fine - I’m so glad it’s not rocket science and that there are no knitting police to tell me I did it wrong. In fact, I’ve decided that increasing a couple extra stitches and then not decreasing them back out is probably best for my daughter’s next pair. HTH

10

yup, that’s the pattern/recipe i’m using, but with worsted weight, and size 5/6 needles, so i’m fudging parts of it a bit. so far it’s working out. have about half the gusset increases done on one sock.

11

ok, DONE with the gusset increases on the one sock. and then my brain just shut down and won’t process any information on how to keep going… and i got frustrated and yelled back at you tube videos, even tho they can’t hear me (but the karma, right?), so clearly it’s time to put it down for the night.

here’s the question i DO know, tho… why would i bother with all the SSKs and wraps/turns, when i could decrease just by k2tog on each side of my heel round - the reverse of what i did in order to increase, right? no? too much fudging?

sleepy dreamy time…

12

Sure, you could do k2tog at eah end. In this tutorial, Liat does k2tog on one row and p2tog on the next row.
There are many ways to turn the heel and some peoble prefer the lines made by paitring ssk and k2t on the same row. Some don’t. Remember, they’re your socks and you can do this which ever way you like…

13

When I did k2tog with the heel it didn’t look right and I wasn’t happy with it. I was doing heel stitch and maybe that had something to do with it. I went back to ssk. If k2tog works for you, great.

When you do ssk do you do the “improved” version as in Amy’s video, slipping the second stitch purlwise? I do like it better.

14

i haven’t done either the regular or ‘improved’ version, so will take a look at amy’s video. thanks for the heads-up :wink:

15

ok, i did it again… confused myself into frustration and had to set things down before i broke them. this is when not having some in-person, hands-on help really bites - my kingdom for a LYS!

the gusset is done, i’m supposed to start the heel, and i can’t make sense of the math.

whether i do ssks or k2togs or any other decrease, i’m supposed to be decreasing, back to an amount of stitches for the ankle/leg that makes sense, right? i’m asking that specifically, because…

…some of the videos (you tube, etc) are mislabeled (?) and say it’s for the faux heel flap, or something else where they’re not picking up stitches, but then they still pick up stitches. or, they say ok, you have 40 (example) stitches… you knit 3, ssk, knit 20, wrap and turn and purl back… and i’m thinking, what about the other 15 stitches that never got addressed?

i was an honor student, i can’t be this dumb! :slight_smile:

bottom line, i have 26 instep stitches and 50 gusset stitches going into the heel. i need to get those 50 gussets back down to 25 (so when i start the ankle/leg i have 51 total, for an even repeat of k2p1 ribbing).

thoughts, suggestions, smacks to the head?

16

Try this video, made specifically for this heel. KNITFreedom - How To Turn A Heel: Toe-Up Heel Flap Socks
For some reason I have no sound with it.