The Fleegle Heel

(Anyone looking for Dogs on Thursday post - it will be up later today.)

Some sock knitters, like me, are always on the look out for a better/easier heel.  I try them all.  There are times one heel is better suited for a pattern or a yarn than another.  Some people don't like the way a short-row heel fits, others love it.  I'm not particularly adept at a short-row heel, wrapping and picking up wraps seems very fiddly to me.  I like to be able to knit socks without taxing my brain too much, so when I knit a short row heel - I usually knit a garter stitch heel, because the wraps don't show and don't have to be picked up.

Occasionally I knit a peasant heel.  It's not my favorite fit-wise either, and then there is the added pleasure - ahem - of getting to kitchener both the heel and the toe.  Did I mention fiddly slows me down? 

For the greatest percentage of my socks I am a dedicated flapper.  I like the heel stitch, and the partridge heel.  I don't particularly love picking up the stitches around the flap.  I can do it - I just don't enjoy it.  There is the band heel that although easier to execute, does not fit every foot.

Enter the Fleegle Heel.  I seriously LOVE this heel.  I want to marry this heel.  If you follow that link, it takes you to Fleegle's generic sock pattern that can be worked toe up or cuff down.  What's not to love about a flexible pattern like that?  Then she managed to tweak the heel just a bit to make it even more perfect, which you will find at this link.  (Her generic pattern has also had the link of no sock holes for you - her improved heel - right when you get to the heel section of the pattern..)

Sock knitters, what is one of the pitfalls of knitting socks?  The dreaded hole that appears when you join the heel to the instep.  It has been the bane of knitters since the dawn of time.   There are different ways of addressing this problem such as...

• Carefully picking up stitches with a twist between the instep and heel
• Picking up extra stitches
• Duplicate stitching over the hole
• Doing a cinch of the hole from the inside of the sock, then darning the tails

I have done all of these at one time or another, some with great success and others with limited success.  Knitters like me, who knit a fair amount of socks, use about every technique at one time or another - longing for the perfect heel and the holeless sock.  Hello Fleegle heel!

I have pictures, but as y'all already know, I am not a great photographer, and I am stuck inside with whatever lighting can be conjured up by the flip or a switch and a flash.  Add hand tremors to the mix and well, you get what you get, you know?

Here is the heel (stuffed for photography purposes) at first glance:

I made a few modifications in the heel to suit my knitting style - knitters can do that!  When I did the M1 increases as the pattern instructed, I was getting holes.  Normally this does not happen to me, but it may have been the tight stitch count with sportweight yarn.  I changed the increases to KF&B, and I loved it.  This does give the little raised purl bump, but it is not unattractive on the sock.

I like the way it looks.  The picture of the other side does not show the purl bumps as plainly, because there was some pooling of color and they blended in more.  If using a solid yarn, they would be less noticeable - if that matters to you.

The other change I made in the pattern was the decreases.  As written, it calls for a K2Tog on the knit side, and a P2Tog-tbl on the purl side.  By the time I execute a purl decrease through the back of two loops, I could have knitted an entire row.  It really slows me down.  Fleegle's pattern as written is perfect, as evidenced in the pictures.  It presents a beautiful heel.  Obviously my skills are not as well honed as hers, and I was more comfortable with an SSK on the knit side, and a P2tog on the purl.

The following shows the heel turn, and I promise it is not as wonky and distorted as my pictures shows.  Somehow between the stuffing in the sock, and my thumb pulling the fabric taut, it looks all uneven.  It's not.  Plus the one thing I have discovered over my time of knitting many socks - any uneven stitches really do come out in the wash.  (Or in the case of gift socks that you are not washing and wearing personally, they work out in the soak and block.)

Then there is the really good stuff (which I didn't get a good photo of - even with macro), but there are NO HOLES where the heel joins the instep!  Woot!

The clincher?  I had 3 different people try the sock on, and the all pronounced it the most comfortable heel they had ever worn.  They also each claimed the pair of socks to come as their own.  Oops.  This result was also because the pattern I am knitting, Sleepy Eyes Tipsy Sock is a real winner - especially with variegated yarn.  This is a free pattern - link to the pdf file here.  It's a good thing I have a skein or two in my sock yarn stash, huh.  Skein or two. Cackles.

Wendy featured a sock on her blog recently with a similar heel, and someone asked if it was the Fleegle heel.  Wendy said it was similar, and the one she preferred especially on sport or dk weight socks where heel stitch adds bulk.

Get over to Fleegle's blog and check out her sock pattern and her heel tutorial (with pictures), then look around while you are there.  She knits lace lovely enough to make a knitter cry.