Blue Rib Sock

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For these socks I did a simple 2×2 rib on 60 sts. Like I always do now, I split at the heel to work the top and bottom flat, and then sewed them together before knitting the toe. You can tell from how the stripes are thicker on the foot than the leg, and offset where they join.

Another thing I’ve been doing lately is making the heel flap longer. I’ve developed a notation for it, in this case 30x38k7/14. This means 30 sts wide (including the 3 st garter border on each side), 38 rows long, doing the heel stitch as k, sl rather than sl, k, and turning the heel leaving 7 sts on each side initially, finishing with 14 sts left. I turn the heel still in heel stitch, like this:

  1. sl, (p), p2tog, 7 sts remain, turn
  2. (sl, k), ssk, 7 sts remain, turn
  3. repeat 1 and 2 until no sts remain after decreases

It’s important to do k, sl on the heelp flap so that the first sl turning the heel lines up with a slipped column. I know it has to be this way because 30 + 7 is odd. When that sum is even, then I start with sl instead.

I think I prefer the embossed rib patterns I did for Seventies Stripes Sock and Cadet Colors Sock, but this looks okay too. I expected the plain 2×2 rib to be stretchier and fit less tightly, but it doesn’t make that big a difference.