Sunday, February 04, 2007

Experienced Knitters Needed

Okay, I finished my first ever toe-up sock:




I generally happy with the way it turned out, I guess. (Still can't get past my cuff down prejudice though!) What I'm not so happy about, and quite sure I totally goofed up is the heel (never having done this sort of short row with wraps before.)
This is what one side of the heel looks like:



And here is the other side (which, I'm sure you'll notice, looks completely different from the other side!! argh!):



So my question to all you more experienced knitters it this: what the heck did I do wrong??? Or is it normal for heels to look like this??

In one pattern I looked at, it said your heel would look nicer if you lifted the wrap up and over the stitch before you knit them together. I gave it a try, but honestly I'm not quite sure I was doing it right. Plus then I discovered (much too late) that on the double wrapped stitches I was supposed to lift BOTH wraps--which I didn't do because I only noticed this little helpful tip at the very end of the pattern after I was done with the heel!!!

If anyone can offer me some wisdom before I get to the heel on sock number two (I'm just past the toe and working my way up the foot.....) I'd greatly appreciate it!

Thanks a bunch! & Happy Knitting!

3 comments:

Tammy said...

So Kim, is the first side that you have shown, is it looser or gappy at all? If so, I would really like to know what others suggest. I am having the same problem and have tried a couple of different methods but haven't been able to fix it.

kshotz said...

Hi Tammy!
Actually, it's the second side that seems to have small little gaps in it. The first side has these diagonal lines/stitches, which I'm assuming has something to do with the second wrap on each stitch????
I don't really mind the look of them, I'm just not sure why they only show up on one side as I thought I was doing it the same in both directions (could it be a knit vs. purl distinction?????)

kshotz said...

Hi Kim!
The root of your problem is this; one side of your heel is 'turned' with
knit stitches and the other with purl stitches. When I first started
making turned heels they looked like this too. I compliment you that
none of your turns have holes which is great for a beginner! If you
want both sides of your heel to look the same you many have to take a
closer look at how you're doing your turns. You are obviously doing
something a little different on the purls (or knits).
I eventually abandoned doing wrapped stitches for turned heels as
wraps tend to make your turns lumpy because of the extra yarn plus
the 'wrapping' part is a pain. I learned how to do a no-wrap turned
heel from Crazy Toes and Heels by Mary Ann Beattie (aka Queen
Kahuna). It's like magic. Perfect heels every time. Both sides look
the same and NEVER any holes! It's the only heel I do now.
I have a blog and I have uploaded but not posted the pictures of my
latest sock project. (Hope to get to it tomorrow). In the pictures
you will see the sock I'm working on with the little string of rings
I use to mark the turns. Crazy Toes says use elastics but I find they
bind. I've knit about 15 pairs of socks with this method and can't
say enough good things about it. If you google the book name you'll
find her website. Her book has more than just turned heels and also
has cuff down, toe up etc etc. It's a worthwhile investment.
Anyways, hope this helps a bit. You can post my comment to your blog
if you want I just couldn't do it myself. Best of luck & nice to have
met you on sockknitters! Monica in Sask.