Curvilinear Heel
Like every other sock knitter out there, I’m on a perpetual quest to find the heel – the one that fits my foot nicely, without excess fabric or stretching tightly and therefore wearing out quickly.
I’m also plagued with ankles that swell at unexpected intervals, and a somewhat higher instep, meaning that socks without gussets are useless to me.
Add to that the fact that I prefer to knit socks toe-up, and my quest gets even more difficult.
So, since I couldn’t find the perfect heel for my foot…I experimented until I unvented one 😀 This heel splits the gusset into 3 parts, so that it forms darts to curve to the natural shape of the foot.
I’m sharing it here just in case anyone else wants another heel to add to their knitting arsenal.
With no further ado, I give you the…Curvilinear Heel*!
*Ok, a little bit more ado. I hope you enjoy giving this new-to-me heel a try…and I’m deliberately releasing it free of charge for commercial use. The license means that I want attribution if you use it in a pattern (name the heel, and link to this post) but that I’m not asking for licensing fees, forbidding redistribution or modification, etc. To read more, click the link below.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This hasn’t been test knit, and it’s a recipe consisting of my notes jotted down as I worked through this. While containing directions for turning a heel, it assumes a basic knowledge of P2tog, SSK, wrap and turn, M1R, and M1L. Spot something that doesn’t make sense? Don’t know how to do one of those techniques? See a typo or other errata? Please let me know in the comments or contact me here. I’ll be glad to make any corrections needed, and assist with tutorials for the techniques used.
