Saturday, June 26, 2010

Genius Footprint -- The Heel

Just as during the gusset section when we had to plan to make all the gusset increases within a certain distance, for the heel we have to bring our sock to a close in the remaining inches of the foot. This takes some creativity, and again, rounds per inch is your friend.
I've knit 7.5 inches of my 10 inch foot, so I need to finish the heel in 2.5 inches. At 13 rounds per inch, I've got a little over 32 rows to complete the foot, to reduce my 98 stitches down to about 24 (which I can graft together or join in 3 needle bind-off). I could decrease at 4 points every other round. I could consult Personal Footprints, where Bordhi devotes 7 pages to mapping out different rates of decreasing at 6 points. But I thought I'd try a reverse Hat Heel, decreasing at 8 points every 4th round 8 times until my sock is the right length, then quickly decreasing on alternate rounds to close up the hole.

Here is a pic of the bottom of my sock so far -- a closed tube that is the same length as my foot, with increases that follow the shape of my toes and an arch expansion targeted to my size. On the reverse of the tube, I've marked stitches where I will open up the sock to knit the ankle and calf.

No comments: