On the Needles

I have made progress on these socks with the Swedish garn. I had comments on how complicated the pattern was so I graphed it to show how simple it really is, the dots are purl stitches and the blank squares on the graph are knit. The challenge is purling 4 in a row my fingers want to do a 2 by 2 ribbing. I'm getting better at counting 1, 2, 1, 2 ,3,4, 1, 2,1,2,3,4.................

I have also had comments and questions about the heel. I think this heel is the easiest, written instructions on the Feegle heel and a video by Liat Gat. Almost everything I have learned about knitting in the last two years I have learned from watching youtube videos.

I finished the gusset of these socks, there are 58 stitches, I placed a marker at the center of each.

Knit 2 stitches past the marker,

Decrease one stitch by doing a slip slip knit
then knit one more
that stitch is very important
There are no wrap and turns with this heel.  
That stitch puts the working yarn on the right needle.

Turn work slip that knit stitch onto the right needle and purl 2 stitches past the marker
Purl 2 together and purl 1 more that stitch is very important don't forget

Turn work slip that stitch and knit
see the gap
when you get to the gap slip slip knit 
 slip the stitch on the right of the gap and  slip the stitch on the left of the gap, close the gap with a knit

knit one more stitch
Turn. slip stitch

Continue by purling back to the gap

see the gaps on each side of the heel

no counting just knit or purl to the gap and close the gap with a decrease, knit or purl one more

repeat those 2 rows until until all stitches have been knit.

 End with a knit row. There will still be some purl row stitches that need to be decreased but you will decrease those when you are knitting in the round again. If you knit across and end on a slip slip knit as your last stitch before continuing to the second heel there will be a hole in your sock. After turning the second heel continue knitting in the round. Decrease on the right and left side of the heel until there are the same number of stitches as before you started the gusset (30 stitches for this pair of socks). If I am knitting a pattern I begin the pattern after I am done with all the decrease stitches. Click the links above for more instruction and video. Mornings are getting chilly here how many days until I put on my wool socks.
 

Time to start knitting Christmas gifts. This is a Trekking yarn, no color name but it is navy with lots of subtle color variation green, purple, and blue wonderful dark color for guy socks. I'm doing  2 rows of k2 p2 then 2 rows of knit and repeat those 4 rows. Happy knitting and linking to Judy's OTN. --Ann--