Short row heels

I really like this short row heel.  I wonder why I put the sock aside thinking I had to look up the instructions on how to do it?  It is so easy and so intuitive and much nicer than working that heel flap which I hate.

For my short row heel I worked on half of the stitches, in this case 32 stitches of a 64 stitch sock.  I worked back and forth on one needle.  Each row was one stitch shorter than the previous row, wrapping the next stitch on the needle (unworked) before turning my work.

I continued in this vein until I had 8 active stitches remaining on my needle.  I think the instructions had recommended 14, but that was too wide for me.  In fact every sock I knitted before I learned this technique has been too wide through the heel.  I guess I have narrow pointy heels.

Then after you knit the 8 active stitches, you start picking up one stitch at the end of each row, wrapping the next unworked stitch.  When you pick up the stitches as you increase back to a full 32 active stitches, you are now actually picking up one stitch and two wraps, a little tricky on tiny needles, but certainly fun.  It may not be the prettiest heel, but I am hoping to get better at it with practice.

With this technique I may actually become a sock knitter and who knows, a sock wearer.  Well I need them anyway, at least for the gym and the garden.  I don’t believe there is any rule saying I can’t wear pretty socks when working in the garden.