![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQFCPv78yuXF8PCwWshN_fDCmx4K6WmqV_tdjF_biG6cxOmfN1Y9i-eqwE_Bv-C-I8xQxxfN4PcSuiqfIfh9xAMDUKISeW4c9u7pSNakLn2vN5s0d4doET1bPILWqc6bugsv2R/s400/RedSockNoHeel.jpg)
I'm not a big sock knitter. I live in flip-flop country. But sometimes.....I get a hankering to knit socks. Plus I had to cast on a stranded project to stay involved with a KAL I belong to. (This was before I knitted the Christmas ball in yesterday's post, which I'm definitely counting - it's stranded, right?)
I had some Cascade superwash left over from the infamous off-center placket sweater and some random lighter-colored worsted in my stash. I cast on for a toe up sock (my favorite!) using the method where you knit into the backs of your cast-on sts to start. I fooled with graph paper until I came up with this scrolly pattern (don't ask me why it's showing up BLUE either - that's not how the image looks here!):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXo9g-6jdrlVvQZ8FAN6uJl9ZNNL99Z-RTu5WHcBy1dyL-BVAyZhFuVmigU6TxTlnzWY77f7Q0Sj0nMOMmKuxR673tIPYudlqf3MK3vV8ZAMv0YKk5Z7qeXU9KYnfkBY5gSnMX/s320/ScrollChart.jpg)
I knit in a tube until I got to the heel, and then - disaster. I had to put the whole thing down for two weeks to allow the swelling in my brain to subside, because figuring out how the !@#$ to put in a heel on a stranded project almost made it explode.
First I tried a heel flap, which I frogged no less than three times while I alternately figured out I'd wreck the instep pattern when doing the gusset decreases and then convinced myself it was all in my mind.
Then I decided to use waste yarn - I've seen it done - and an afterthough heel. But wouldn't that wreck the pattern on the back of the sock? Which I realize now is actually on the bottom of your foot, so who cares?
And finally I decided to do the unthinkable. For me, anyway:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmsEgb6kyRgi3WbEu0fbt-reneaX4cIY57c2gjBtLhnF0hqo1y5BjmTzbGwNzekz7DXJfzL6z0kyFutDCsFLgYY44sTHF-k3od7-iG3BBmA7hDXvMqcOuPH4b9Af8Xuq-vWK_z/s400/Snip.jpg)
SNIP! I cut the stitch you see above, right in the middle of the heel. I unraveled (or is it "raveled"? I can never decide....) to both sides. I figured out I had to cut the contrasting color. I unraveled that too. I picked up an appropriate number of sts, and knit a "toe" like Elizabeth Zimmerman told me to.
I weaved in, I blocked on a hanger (which was easier said than done, bending that hanger into a foot-like shape).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4E8XImgU8PogTW2bjlKAnXzo5MB5GVwvOoIA_3c_lL5lSthIfPH2XfSm0_y0g-zbVZIa0u3Lu8OvOuNEwznXflcJFgQzG280l_3ifaVl7e2YmDqWLbP253KVKGLSxHPJmzZiN/s320/RedSockHeel.jpg)
The heel looked pretty good while blocking!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiHWg8Qv7dPSRjbOt4IXJMSdeVF1jC3jRFhQ4vCitlqNuQmxeXfiA9DPU5resuBLAPAlzF1mnWdmyYHsewqvtsvfapI-E62d6zZpGS9mQTISIa08xolXQWPkNdgPOz9Lud7a7O/s320/HeelCloseup.jpg)
I tried it on Mary's foot - cuz it's for her. My guage for some reason tightened up between the casting-on honeymoon phase and the heel phase (repressed heel rage, anyone?) so it was a little hard to get on, but once on it looked, well, custom-made for her!!
And then I saw this:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24dTtZ-8iw_xD46ti61Z4yLLxy79ceX-Vywx_cohPGgFBGuXZ-zhJ2Y76XWkYQkixS6AiPylihh3yDmtvzWtvP_PJenSXdxz_OUKCJ1kvtf7QphGE_PIjjJcoLj-skKDOU56s/s400/DroppedStitch.jpg)
Yep, that's a renegade stitch, laddering away from the heel as fast as it can. I'm about ready to burn this sock. I don't know how Patty can sleep through it.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWV6ElPfz70LGMBiolh5FX5UaK0C7N9x9Wpm5ZLuRt-874YF9c5AyepHYIB6jqeszPjYTE_-FbSx3rJxQjCfypfiXRFF6tiATteD_pAPPKs1L_t4HKA9mGHfaE9arC6jnc9nr2/s320/PattyNapping.jpg)
3 comments:
Ooh, I love the pattern! It would make great mittens, too. You were very brave, cutting the yarn – that would terrify me too. But they're beautiful – worth saving!
Wow, what an absolutely awesome pattern! I had to gasp a bit when I saw that you were cutting the yarn - but how very brave of you to do so, and it seems to have done the trick, no? Totally fantastic work!
The sock looks beautiful! I agree with Hilary, you were very brave.
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