HEATHER'S "MAGICAL" BLUE SOCKS WITH TUTORIAL - PART 4

Hi everyone,


How are you all this morning?  I'm doing really well. I have a chiropractor appointment later today and some grocery shopping, too. In the meantime, I want to get this ready for you who have been following my sock tutorial :) :)


Last time we finished off with turning the heel. When it's done carefully, it turns out really, really beautifully :) :)


Here are the links to the last three posts on this.  Feel free to visit:

Heather's Magical Blue Socks with Tutorial - Part 3

Heather's "Magical" Blue Socks with Tutorial - Part 2

Heather's "Magical" Blue Socks with Tutorial

Okay, so you've turned the heel. Now what? Next is to pick up the stitches on either side of the heel to begin shaping the main body of the sock.

On my sock, I ended up with 22 stitches left after I was completely done turning the heel..

Switch back to Size 0 US (2 mm) double-pointed knitting needles.

Knit 11 stitches

Use new needle and knit 1 stitch, place a stitch marker here, and knit remaining 10 stitches.

Now it's time to start shaping the GUSSET of the sock. This is the part that fits around the ankle bone and going to the main part of your foot.

Now you want to pick up stitches on the left side of the heel flap.  It's up to you how many you want to pick up.  However, I always pick up one stitch in every row. In this case, I picked up a total of 24 stitches on the left side of the heel.


Heather's Helpful Hint:  Keep track of how many stitches you pick up on one side of the heel/gusset. Why? You want to make sure that you pick up the same number of stitches on the other side. it will ensure that you have a nice, even looking sock.

Heather's Helpful Hint:  I use a small crochet hook to help me pick up stitches. It makes the whole job of picking up stitches so much easier. in fact, I actually insert the crochet hook through a stitch and pull a loop of yarn through. It works really well for me.


Okay, so now you have half the heel stitches and 24 instep stitch on your knitting needle. I call this Needle 1.

On needles #2 and #3, you want to continue in your ribbed knit pattern of knit 2, purl 2. You may have to make a few minor adjustments depending on how big your sock is. The point is to maintain that particular set of stitches all the way through the sock.


Next take needle #4 and pick up 24 stitches on the right side of the heel then knit that first half of remaining heel stitiches onto the needle.

SHAPING:

Now it's time to start shaping this to fit your foot.

Row 1:

Needle 1:Knit to last three stitiches, knit 2 together, knit 1

Needles 2 &3: continue in ribbed knit pattern across of knit 2, purl 2

Needle 4: Knit 1, ssk (slip, slip, knit), knit to end.

Row 2: Knit even continuing in pattern.

You just repeat those two rows, until you have the same number of stitches as you started with when you began your sock.

In my case, I narrowed it down just a little bit to fit my foot..so I continued in this decrease pattern until I had 80 stitches remaining.

Once you've reached that point, you just knit until the sock measures 1 1/2" inches less than the total length of your foot. In my case, I continued knitting till the sock measured 9 1/2" from the heel.

That means a total of 96 rows that I knit, including the decrease rows as I was shaping the gusset.  It will vary for you, depending on your knitting style, yarn and needles.  So it's always good to measure as you're knitting.

Next time, I'll show you how to shape the toe.  That's the best part, unless you like socks with holes at the toes :) :) :) :)

Until then I leave you with this photo:

This is Cannery Row on a super busy day. It's not normally this busy. However, this photo was taken during the Cherries Jubilee car show. So there were people everywhere, looking at all the cool rides.

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs to your day today, Heather :)