by Kathryn

First, check your gauge. Choose needles such that your yarn knits into a firm, dense fabric. You want to avoid drapeyness, or seeing a lot of light through your swatch when you hold it up and look through it. The firmer your fabric, the better your socks will wear!

Anyway, do all that, and check your gauge. Multiply the number of stitches you get per inch by two. The result is x. In equation format:

(spi * 2 = x)

Got that? So if your gauge is eight stitches per inch, x = 16.

Now begins the sock pattern.

Cast on 4x stitches, x on each needle. Join into a round, being careful not to twist the stitches.

Knit a cuff in the ribbing stitch of your choice for x rounds.

Switch to your leg pattern and knit 3x rounds for shorter socks, 4x rounds for longer socks.

For the heel, *sl1, K1*, repeat across 2 needles’ worth of stitches, using the same needle as your working needle the whole time. When this is done, you should have 2x stitches on one needle. Be sure to put the extra needle somewhere where you can find it! Turn the work around, slip the first stitch, and purl the rest of the stitches across.

Repeat these two rows (right side: *sl1, K1*; wrong side, sl1, p remaining stitches) for 2x rows. Be sure to end on a wrong side row.

Now to turn the heel. This looks deadly confusing. Do not quail in fear. This technique is called “short row shaping,” so-called because the ROWS are SHORTER than normal, as you turn around IN THE MIDDLE OF A ROW and go back the other way, in direct violation of everything you know about knitting.

Row 1: Sl1, K (x + 2), K2tog, K1, turn. (Yes, turn. TURN IT AROUND. You’ll be fine.)
Row 2: Sl1, P7, P2tog, P1, turn.
Row 3: Row 3: Sl 1, k to within one stitch of gap, k2 tog across gap, k1, turn. (look at your needles. See the gap in between the stitches you’ve worked in this short row in the middle and the stitches that still need to be worked ? That’s the gap I’m talking about.)
Row 4: Sl 1, p to within one stitch of gap, p2tog across gap, p1, turn.

Repeat rows 3 and 4 until all stitches have been worked. You may not be able to work the final k1 after the decrease on the last row. That’s fine. (x+4) stitches remain. (If x is odd, the number will actually be (x+3), due to the lack of a final K1 stitch.) If you ended on a right side row, proceed with the gusset; if you’ve ended on a wrong side row, K across plain.

Now you should have a tube with a flap hanging off of it, and the flap sort of curves around and has a little floor at it at the bottom. The needle in the end of the heel flap is needle #1 (N1), the needles in the instep stitches (the ones you’ve been ignoring all this time) are needles #2 and #3 (N2 and N3). The needle in your hand is #4 (N4). The needle in the cuff of your sock or wherever you stuck it is #5 (N5).

Using N1 as your working needle, pick up x stitches along the side of the heel flap. You can either do this by sticking N4 through the big loop made by the slip stitch on the side of the heel and then knitting that loop off N4, or you can go to the purl stitch just inside the big loop, pick that one up with N4, and then knit it off N4.

Knit across N2 and N3, either plain or in pattern depending on whether or not you want the pattern to continue down the instep.

Using N4 as your working needle and N5, pick up x stitches along the OTHER side of the heel flap. Still using N4 as the working needle, knit ((x+4)/2) stitches off of N1 {((x+3)/2) if x is odd) You should now have 4 needles in the work. The join between N1 and N4, at the bottom of the heel, is now the beginning of the round.

GUSSET: This is the part where the sock decreases as your foot gets narrower over the instep.

Round 1: K to 3 stitches before end on N1, K2tog, K1. K across N2 and N3 in pattern. On N4, K1, SSK (or k2tog tbl), and knit to end. Round 2: Knit plain (instep stitches in pattern, if you’re doing that) Repeat these two rounds until the foot needles (N1 and N4) have x stitches on each of them.

Foot: Continue to knit the foot with no further decreases until the entire foot, including the gusset rows, measures 4x rows.

Toe: This is a wedge toe. Discontinue the pattern stitch, if you were carrying it down the instep. From here on out, knit plain.

Round 1: K to 3 stitches before end of N1, K2tog, K1. On N2, K1, SSK (or K2tog tbl), K to end. On N3, K to 3 stitches before end, K2 tog, K1. On N4, K1, SSK (or K2tog tbl), K to end.
Round 2: knit plain.
Repeat these two rounds until there are ((x-2)/2) stitches on each needle. Then repeat only round 1 until there are 2 stitches on each needle. Break yarn, run through all eight stitches twice, pull tight, and weave in ends. Knit another to match and you’re done!

Copyright 2004 Kathryn Tewson. Permission is granted to reproduce this pattern in any medium, as long as it is distributed for free and this copyright notice remains intact. Permission is also granted to produce items from this pattern for sale.