Natalia Knits

I’ve been letting the blog languish over the holiday season, and a couple of people have posted questions while I was MIA (unfortunately, Blogger recorded the time of the comments, but not the date. WTF?) Anyway, I figure I will go ahead and post the answers, since it’s probably like school, for every person that goes to the trouble of asking a question, there are probably half a dozen who had the same question, but didn’t ask. So here goes:

Question #1

Sara asked:

“Row 4: Knit plain on sole side, [k-f/b, knit 15 (17), k-f/b] twice on instep side”
so I have this many stitches on the instep side: 2+17+2+17+2, which equals 40 stitches.

But I’m supposed to end up with 42 stitches (as per the next instructions: “You will now have 32 (36, 38, 42) stitches on the sole side needle, and 38 (42, 46, 50) on the instep needle.”).

Should I just do another K f/b setup row, adding two more stitches to the instep row (knitting f/b into the first and last stitch)? Or have I gone wrong somewhere, again LOL???!

Sara, you shouldn’t need an extra row. Since you repeat the entire pattern in the brackets twice, you will get [2+17+2]+[2+17+2] = 42

Question #2

Laura asked:

When I am knitting the gusset increases, am I supposed to continue working the instep side? At what point do I start knitting back and forth as I would for a heel flap?

Yes, while you are working the gusset increases, you will be working circularly. I guess the easiest way to describe this technique is to talk about it in reference to a normal cuff down heel-flap sock.

In fact, I’m just going to use this question as a starting point to start from the basics, and go into a lot more detail. (If any of you who are reading this have ever made a cuff-down sock, go get it now so you can follow along)

• So we start looking at the toe, lots of ways to make one, it’s just an end/begining of a tube.
• Then we knit around and around for a few inches. Same as you would on the foot of a cuff-down sock.
• Now the gusset. On a cuff-down sock, you knit around and around, decreasing on every other row, on a tow up sock, you knit around and around increasing every other row. What you’re left with when you’re done is a normal number of stitches on the instep - and on the sole, you have the sole stitches, and the stitches you *would have* picked up from the edges of the flap if you were going in the opposite direction.
• Since we’re going in reverse order, in a cuff down sock, the last thing you would do before the gusset increases is the heel turn. If you’re looking at an actual cuff-down sock, you see it as that little trapezoid, triangle or semicircle (depending on what kind of heel turn you use) that fills in that curved portion at the back of the bottom of your foot. To re-create that in this pattern, we knit the “heel extension”. It builds the little trapezoid, so that this kind of heel will have the same kind of fit as a cuff-down sock.
• We pick up stitches around the heel extension, and now we find ourselves at the bottom of the heel flap, which we will now work going up instead of going down. Now we treat *just* the stitches from the extension as the flap. So what about all of the gusset stitches hanging out, you ask? In a cuff-down sock we would pick them up, or create them from the side of the flap, so toe-up, we’re going to disappear them at the side of the flap. On each right-side row, you disappear (decrease) one from the left side, and on each wrong side row, you decrease one from the right side. Continue knitting your flap back and forth like this until you have eaten up all of the gusset stitches.
• Now your heel is done, and you are all set to knit the leg and the cuff.

I hope everyone had a wonderful new year, and hopefully I’ll be back soon with real knitting content!

I am really amazed that there is so much interest in my toe-up adaptation (And I am really happy Grumperina was ok with me putting it up for you guys) If you have any questions about anything in the pattern, please feel free to leave a comment.

Also, if anyone finishes them toe-up from my directions, drop me a line, and I’ll put up a link to your socks.

You know what else, I’m happy that over the course of this knit-along, I have introduced people to the idea of a toe-up heel flap. The method I’ve described still involves picking up stitches, but I think it’s in a less noticeable spot. Anyway, it’s a clever technique.

I definately think cuff-down/toe-up, and dpn/2 circs/magic loop are nothing more than personal preference kind of things. There are arguments for any combination of the above, and I hate the “my way is the one true sockknitting way!” pronouncements that occationally turn up on mailing lists. That said, I suspect there are people who have entirely dismissed toe-up knitting because they dislike short-row heels.

Though, if we’re counting cool things from the toe-up camp, I’ve noticed is that lace patterns in cuff down socks will be viewed upside-down from the direction you are knitting them. But the lace patterns in most stitch dictionaries are photographed right side up, as if you were to put them on a sweater knit from the bottom up. Toe-up knitting shows off your stitch pattern right side up. Good to know.

Jo asked:

One thing I am confused about is why the need to set up the pattern after finishing the toe. The orginal pattern doesn’t seem to do anything special to set up (or end) the pattern. Am I missing something here?

There are special instructions in the original pattern, they’re just hidden in the gusset and toe shaping.

The rows are there because you have a different gauge over the pattern stitch and plain stockinette. In the original pattern, the cuff is worked with 38 st on the front half of the sock, and 38 on the back half. The heel flap is worked on those 38 stitches, but then the gusset decreases have you decreasing down to 32 stitches on the bottom of the foot, so it won’t be wider than the patterned section.

When you start the toe shaping, Rounds 1 and 2 have you decreasing only on the instep side, not on the sole side.:

“Round 1: Work needle #1 even. *K1, ssk at the beginning of needle #2, work to 3 sts from end of needle, k2tog, k1. Repeat from * for needle #3. Work needle #4 even. 66 (74) sts remain.
Round 2: Work needle #1 even. K1, ssk at the beginning of needle #2. Work to 3 sts from end of needle #3, k2tog, k1. Work needle #4 even. 64 (72) sts remain.”

Then you have 32 stitches on the instep as well, and you can continue on with a normal wedge toe.

I reversed this toe shaping to re-create the 32 st sole/38 st instep, but added a plain row between, since I am knitting into the stitch below to increase, and that works best following a plain row.