When I’m knitting socks for myself, like the Cubicle Socks Trio, short row heels are my favorite. They’re worked the same whether you’re knitting your sock from the top down or the toe up.
The general idea is for the first half of the heel, each row is one stitch shorter than the last and ends with some sort of special turning stitch. The rule of thumb is that about 1/3 of the heel stitches on each side are turning stitches and 1/3 of the stitches at the center are plain stockinette stitches. Then for the second half of the heel, each row is one stitch longer than the last and the turning stitches are worked to prevent any holes at the ends of the rows.
What you end up with is a diagonal line from just in front of the ankle down to the bottom back of the heel. The stitches on the first half of the heel are perpendicular to the stitches of the second half of the heel.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with this construction, but if you’d like to soften the look of that diagonal line you can add a couple transition rounds between the first and second half of the shaping. However, this does slightly change how the second half of the heel is knit.
Episode Notes
Introduction and Heel Shaping Overview - 0:00
Short Row Heel Transition Rounds - 2:26
2nd Half of the Short Row Heel Shaping - 6:14
Resume Knitting in Rounds - 8:49
Final Notes - 9:33
Pattern: Cubicle Socks Trio
Needles: Skacel by addi FlexiFlips Bamboo
Additional Videos
Yarn, Needle, Notion Support
Thanks Ewe Ewe Yarns for providing yarn and to Skacel for providing the addi needles used in this tutorial. The needles are available locally at many yarn shops and online at Makers' Mercantile.
