Genius Footprint -- Mark the Leg

Using science (that is, gauge and actual measurements of your foot), we've knit to our measurements and should be near the center of the ankle when we've completed the gusset increases. If you want, you can check this using the method Bordhi outlines in Personal Footprints: draw a line down the middle of your leg, try on your sock, and see if it reaches. You might need to add a few rows to make up for foot expansion. Now it's time to mark where your leg will be.

(You might have figured out that the point of this series was to explore whether I could successfully make socks like those in Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters, but without everything I dislike about those socks: the round toe, the "footprint" that doesn't adapt well to different gauges, and especially the annoying trial-and-error process. But the steps that deal with opening up the leg are the parts that I really, really like about the book.)

Sock patterns are usually written with the assumption that people's ankles are about the same circumference as the ball of their foot. For most of my family, it's pretty close, but here is where you can customize. The base of my ankle is just a bit bigger around than the base of my foot, so I'm going to plan for 72 stitches in circumference rather than the 68 stitches I had at the ball.

So what I do now is run a lifeline through the stitches where I will later put the leg of the sock. If my ankle will be 72 stitches, then I need to run a lifeline through 36 stitches, centered on the top. Following Bordhi's instructions, I knit another round, marking a stitch that I will later cut and unravel for the leg opening. Then I knit the next round and run another lifeline through the 36 stitches above my first life line.

I experimented with a more familiar method -- knitting my leg stitches with a bit of waste yarn, which I later removed to knit the leg -- but the end result isn't as nice. And in this instance, I recommend following Bordhi's instructions exactly. If you can't get your hands on a copy of Personal Footprints, you can get the general idea from the Houdini Sock pattern and from Bordhi's YouTube videos.

Genius Footprint -- The Gusset Increases

In New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Cat Bordhi demonstrated that gusset increases can be located anywhere you want on the sock -- top, bottom, sides; neatly stacked on top of each other or randomly spaced. Where do they work best on your foot? I'm still experimenting, but I think my increases work better on the top...

...or the sides.

My theory is that if the increases follow the lines where my foot gets bigger, then the stitches won't be distorted by the changing shape of my foot -- they'll flow in more or less straight lines from the toe to the heel.

Genius Footprint -- The Plan

The Genius Footprint is based on measurements and gauge. The toe is your gauge swatch; now you need these key measurements:

• Circumference around the ball of the foot
• Circumference at the widest part of the foot: around the heel and instep (see picture at right for illustration)
• Length of foot (Best way: put a ruler on the floor, extending out from a wall; stand on the ruler, back of the heel pressed against the wall)
• Length from the tip of the longest toe to the center of the ankle (see this blog post for advice).

We've already calculated how the sock will fit around the ball of the foot: gauge x circumference x 88% for negative ease. Now calculate how many stitches the sock will need to be at its widest. My foot is 9 inches at the ball, 13 at the heel/instep, or 68 stitches at the ball and 98 at the widest point. I will need to increase 30 stitches over the gusset section.

Gusset sections begin about halfway along the foot. My foot is 10 inches long, so I will start my gussets when the sock is about 5 inches. I can safely continue knitting for a few inches, give myself some more fabric so I can accurately check row gauge. My sock is 13 rows (or rounds) per inch, so I'll want to start my gussets near round 65.

The increases need to be completed before the center of the ankle. For me, that's at 7.5 inches, or round 98. Isn't that handy? I'll need to make 30 gusset increases, and I've got just over 30 rows to do it.

I can knit plain up to row 68, and ponder what I want to do with the gusset section.

Genius Footprint -- The Toe

The Genius Footprint begins with an anatomically correct toe.

[Gauge = 8.5 stitches per inch]

Turkish Cast-On

• Hold your circular needle so that both ends are together, pointed to the right.
• Pull the bottom needle to the right, so your top needle is held together with the bottom cord.
• Start your yarn in back of the needles, leaving a 12" tail hanging.
• Wrap the yarn over toward you, down across the front and up the back of the needles.
• Wrap until you have 7 loops.

Rounded Toe

• Knit across the stitches on the "top" needle. Be sure to keep your stitches snug on the "bottom" needle.
• Hold working yarn and tail together, and work 1 round. (This doubles the number of loops on each side -- 14 per side, 28 total.)
• Drop the tail, and knit one round, working one stitch in each loop.

Begin to think of the first 14 stitches as the sole (bottom) of the foot, and the other 14 stitches as the instep (top).

Toe Increases

• Knit 2, YO, knit until 2 stitches remain of sole stitches, YO, knit 2. Repeat for the instep.
• Knit round, working the first yarnover on each side through the back loop, and the second yarnover as k-twist*.

Repeat these two rounds until you have 48 stitches, 24 stitches per side (or until your sock is about an inch long). Then continue knitting but stop increasing on one of the ends. For example:

Left Foot

• Knit until 2 stitches remain of sole stitches, YO, knit 2. On instep side, knit 2, YO, knit to end of round.
• Knit round, working the yarnover at the end of the sole stitches as k-twist, and the yarnover at the beginning of the instep stitches through the back loop.

Right Foot

• Knit 2, YO, knit to end of sole stitches. On instep, knit until 2 stitches remain, YO, knit 2.
• Knit round, working the yarnover at the beginning of the round through the back loop, and the yarnover at the end of the round as k-twist.

Repeat until your sock is desired circumference. For me, that's 68 stitches. For you, it's gauge x circumference around ball of foot x negative ease. (8.5 spi x 9 inch ball x 88% negative ease = 67.32, or 68 stitches).

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* k-twist: Slip next stitch knitwise onto the right needle, changing its mount. Slip the stitch back to the left needle purlwise; the front leg of the stitch now lies in back of the needle while the back leg of the stitch comes down the front of the needle. Knit the back leg like it's a normal stitch, which further twists it to the right.

Arch-Villain Knit-Along: Gusset and Heel

All right, I've put this off for as long as I can. You've indulged me enough, and I thank you for your patience.

The thing is, I'm still not sure what the best heel for these socks should be. For my experiments, I've been using an Evil Genius heel, but I've been thinking that Fleegle's heel would generally work much better.

Regardless of what heel you pick, the process is the same:

• Calculate your rounds/rows-per-inch, and multiply that by the length of your foot to get total number of rows.
• Figure out how many rounds/rows your gusset and heel require.
• Subtract gusset & heel rounds from the total. You now know how long to knit before starting the gusset section.

When you're ready for the gussets, stop decreasing, but keep working the increases, like this:

Right side: Work to marker, k1, M1L, work to center top.
Left side: work to 1 st before marker, M1R, work to center bottom.

Continue until gussets are complete and you're ready to make the heel.

Fleegle Option

For the Fleegle heel, your gussets equal 2 less than the circumference of your sock ÷ 2. For example...

• (60 ÷ 2) - 2 = 28
• (64 ÷ 2) - 2 = 30
• (68 ÷ 2) - 2 = 32
• (72 ÷ 2) - 2 = 34

My prototype sock is 68 stitches. I'm getting 12 rounds-per-inch, and at a target length of 9.5 inches, I'm shooting for 114 rows for this sock. For the Fleegle option, my gusset and heel section is 32 rounds, so my sock will be 82 rounds before beginning gusset shaping. On round 83, I'll stop decreasing and continue with my increases every other round until my sock is 100 sts in circumference. Then I knit the heel (my instructions are here in the "Turning the Heel" section).

Here's What I Did Instead.

For a 68 st sock, the Evil Genius formula calls for 12 gusset increases on each side. Since I'm increasing on alternate rounds, that's 24 rounds. The formula adds 10 short rows to turn the heel. So my gusset and heel section is 34 rows, and I should knit 80 rounds before starting the gussets.


However, on round 71, my decrease lines and increase lines bumped into each other. I meant to do that. It happened sooner than I'd hoped, but it wasn't a problem. I just started my gussets a few rounds early, and knit 8 rounds plain before turning the heel. (As kippahandcollar said, it's probably better to knit a few rounds plain after the toe before starting the arches. My lines wouldn't have bumped into each other so early).

I turned the heel on 20 stitches for the heel base. That's why I placed my decreases 10 stitches out on either side of the center bottom: so that they would slide into the increase lines, which would then line up with the heel. The experiment wasn't completely successful, but the socks aren't an utter failure.

A couple rounds plain, 6 or 7 inches of ribbing, a loose bind-off, and we're done.

What Do You Think?

Gussets on these are very different from the cuff-down versions of arch-shaped socks. Do you think the socks could be improved by placing them somewhere else? Maybe they would hug the heel better if they followed Cat Bordhi's "Riverbed" architecture, coming out from the bottom of the foot to surround the heel?

Arch-Villain Knit-Along: Arch Shaping

As I said before, the theory of arch-shaped socks is pretty straightforward: increases on the top of the sock are paired with decreases on the bottom.

After finishing the toe, work to the center of the sole, either 1/4 or 3/4 round. Adjust magic loop (or whatever inferior tools you may be using -- I'm looking at you, Knittingbrow) so that this is the beginning of your round, and the midpoint bisects the instep. In this section, you knit the right side of your sock, then knit the left.

For the right side, you'll work some set number of stitches, make a left-leaning decrease, work to your first marker (more about this in a second), make a left-leaning increase, and work to your midpoint. On the left side, work to just before your next marker, make a right-leaning increase, work until some set number before the end of your round, make a right-leaning decrease, and work to end of round.

See? We're decreasing at fixed points so the decreases always stay on the bottom of the sock, but by making increases immediately after the first marker and immediately before the second, we push the line of increases away from the top and down toward the bottom. Here's how I do it:

Set-up

Right side: knit to 1 st before center top, place marker, kfb in last st of right side.
Left side: knit 1, place marker, knit to end of round.
Knit 1 round plain.

You'll now work alternating shaping and non-shaping rounds. Shaping rounds are like this:

Right side: k2, ssk, work to marker, k1, M1L, work to center top.
Left side: work to 1 st before marker, M1R, work to 4 sts before center bottom, k2tog, k2.

See KnittingHelp.com for M1L & M1R instructions. Depending on how the yarn behaves, I sometimes do my usual yarnover increases with ktbl and k-twist in the next row.

Variations

• I like the increases to begin from a midpoint, which is why I have that kfb in my set-up round. But there's nothing keeping you from starting your increases at points offset from the center.
• Similarly, your decreases don't have to be 2 sts out from the center bottom. It might reduce some of the foot-hugging qualities of the sock, but I'm making mine 9 stitches out. I'll talk about why I picked this number when we get into the heel.

When your sock is 4 or 5 inches long, you'll want to stop to do some figuring for the gusset and heel section.

Arch-Villain Knit-Along: Toe

I'm going to call these socks "Arch-Villains," unless someone has a better idea. That's the whole point of this exercise: putting my plans to the test, and improving them with input of others.

How This Will Work
I will lay out the instructions here, starting with a general description of what's to be done, followed by specific details of what I did and why I made those choices. Comments are open for any henchfolk working along to ask questions, offer opinions, report on progress, etc.

Step One: Make a Toe

I haven't settled on a recommended toe style for these socks yet. You're free to begin however you like. But there is something to keep in mind: in experiments so far, the fabric of this sock tends to pull the toe up the instep slightly. So the "typical" toe looks crooked, the line of increases slanting from the top front of the toes to the bottom back. One of the toes I posted about last week might work better.

I'm trying something along the lines of Cat Bordhi's "Pontoon Toe." It's similar to Queen Kahuna's "Fan Toe," with elements of FiberQat's Patch Toe. Here's how I made mine.

Turkish cast-on 10 loops, and knit one round. Instead of starting the second round, purl back across the 10 stitches you just knit on that side. (Actually, slip the first stitch and purl 9). Work back and forth on these stitches, repeating * knit 1 row, purl 1 row * 3x, slipping the first stitch of each row. Turn and knit 1 last row.

At the end of this last row of knits, pick up 4 stitches in the edge of your rectangle. The first 2 stitches will be part of your instep, the second 2 will be on the sole side. Knit across the 10 sole stitches, then pickup 4 stitches on the other side (the first 2 on the sole, the next 2 on the instep).

Bordhi and Kahuna both have you place markers to tell you where to increase. I think markers get in the way when you have so few stitches on your needles.

1. k2, yo, k10, yo, k2; repeat for other side (16 sts total)
   
2. k2, k-twist*, k10, ktbl, k2; repeat.
   
3. k3, yo, k10, yo, k3; repeat.
   
4. k3, k-twist, k10, ktbl, k3; repeat
   
5. k4, yo, k10, yo, k4
   
6. knit round, twisting the yarnovers as established
   

Continue in this way, increasing on either side of your 10 center stitches, until your toe is the right size. (That's 68 sts on the sock I'm making).

It took me 8 tries to come up with something half decent. Here's hoping you have better luck.

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* k-twist: Slip next stitch knitwise onto the right needle, changing its mount. Slip the stitch back to the left needle purlwise; the front leg of the stitch now lies in back of the needle while the back leg of the stitch comes down the front of the needle. Knit the back leg like it's a normal stitch, which further twists it to the right.

Arch-Shaped Socks

Are arch-shaped socks the Next Big Thing in sock knitting? QueerJoe just finished a pair. I've been fascinated with them since knitting my "Francie" socks last year. There's a class at Sock Summit that I thought about taking, but with so many other Sock Summit choices, I decided I could skip the class and buy some patterns.

All the patterns I've seen are cuff-down, and the theory is pretty straightforward: shape the fabric around the foot by increasing at fixed points on the bottom of the sock while simultaneously working decreases that travel up the sides and meet at the top. Flipping this around to to create a toe-up version is easy -- just work decreases at fixed points on the bottom, and increases that start at the top and travel down the sides.

I've been working on more detailed instructions in my lab, and while the work isn't finished, I think it may be at a point that I can start sharing it with my henchmen. Anyone up for a knit-along? If so, grab some sock yarn and needles, and we'll get started in a couple days.