Notes on a Toe

(Yes, yes, long time no blog. Lots going on, not much of it knitting, sadly. But I'm back at it now.)

I've been playing with a toe up sock design. I started with Amy Swenson's universal toe-up sock recipe, from Knitty.

It's a great instructional article, well-written, easy to follow, and I love the concept of a universal pattern, having written one myself for Knitty.

Here's the thing, though: toe-up socks don't fit very well.

The toe is great. Love the toe construction. It's easy, fun to work, and it fits well.

The problem is that there is no increase in stitches to compensate for the extra circumference around your heel area.

I worked all the way up to over the heel, and I simply didn't like the way the poor sock had to stretch and strain to fit around the heel area. I acknowledge that this is how most commercial socks are made, and that many people are a fan of the toe-up design, but it just doesn't do it for me. I am fairly petite, and maybe it's that the difference between the circumference of my foot and circumference of my heel is larger than most. What this means is that the sock either has to be looser in the foot, or more stretched -- and therefore tighter -- to fit around the heel. Neither of which I like.

The traditional top-down sock solves this problem with a gusset -- a section worked on more stitches immediately after the heel turn.

So I did some thinking... surely there's some way to create a gusset on a toe-up sock?

And there is!


to be continued....