German short row heel

[janestarz]

The German short row heel is kicking my ass. "Double stitches" as they are called, are not double stitches at all. The trick of the German short row heel is that you yank the yarn over the top of your needle so tightly, it pulls the previous stitch over to the other side of the work. This makes the stich from the previous row look like two stitches and that is why it is probably called a 'double stitch'. In truth it's just a way to torment your knitting into creating a shorter distance between two stitches so that when you knit around a corner, no holes will form.

Of course, on the left-hand side of the heel (when looking on the right side of the fabric) this works perfectly. On the right-hand side of the heel it creates holes. I believe I once read about wrapping half the double stitches the other way around, because the yanking method works perfectly for only one kind of stitch. But since you're switching between purl and knit stitches, yanking the thread should be done the other way around to prevent holes on one side of the heel.

Confused yet? I sure am! Luckily, I've hit another snag in the pattern I'm testing so I can toss this sock into a corner and continue with another project for now.

The other problem with the German short row heel is that because tightness is paramount, I now have sore fingers from yanking my thread and keeping tension tight hoping no holes would form.

In conclusion, therefore, fuck the German Short Row heel.

Comments

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

Luckily heels are very small things, should be knitted in no-time. Right?

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

This one was particularly tedious, also because I needed to hold the yarn very tightly!
It's done now. Second sock may be coming next week...