OK, guys.  It’s time.  Time to turn the heel.

I remember my first pair of socks.  I got to the heel, took one look at the instructions, got scared and put it in the bottom of my WIP pile for about a year.

Let’s not do that.  Heels aren’t that scary.  It’s just some little short rows, and then next week, we’ll pick up some stitches.  No biggie.  (If you want a more detailed explanation, feel free to go back to my “Socks by the Numbers” series.)

This heel will be a basic short-row heel with a reinforced slip-stitch heel.  The slipped stitches will make the heel lovely and thick and squishy (which I think will fit well with the whole “warm and cozy” thing).  They’ll be perfect for wearing with your favorite pair of broken-in hiking boots. (Or while sitting on the couch with a cup of cocoa.)

Ready to start?  Great!

So far, we’ve been knitting in the round on 4 needles.  Now, we’ll be using just one needle, working back and forth as we work up the heel flap.

Join your CC and knit the next 24 (26, 28, 30) stitches onto a single needle.  You’ll have an extra needle.  Put this somewhere you won’t loose it.  We’ll need it later.  These 24 (26, 28, 30) stitches are your heel flap stitches, and we’ll only be working with these stitches today.  Turn your sock around and get ready to work back across your heel stitches.

• Slip 1, then purl across.
• (Slip 1, knit 1) across.

Repeat these two rows until the heel flap is 24 (26, 28, 30) rows long.  Finish with a purl row.

I couldn’t find a stitch marker, but you should have one right in the middle of the blue section.

Next, we’ll shape the heel cap.  (This is the part of the heel that gets nice and round.)

• K12 (13, 14, 15) then place marker.  Then, K2, K2tog, K 1, wrap and turn.
• P to marker, slip marker, P2, P2tog, P1, wrap and turn.

Then:

• K to 1 before the wrap and turn gap, k2tog, k1, wrap and turn.
• P to 1 before the wrap and turn gap, p2tog, p1, wrap and turn.

Repeat these last two rows until you have worked all heel flap stitches.  (On the last two rows, the math might not quite work out and you might not be able to do the last k1/p1, or the last wrap and turn.  Don’t worry about it!)  End with a purl row.

Break Contrast Color, and get ready to work the foot next week!