Photo of the two completed socks lying side-by-side. A close-up of one of the socks showing the heel stitch fabric. A shot of one of the socks on my foot (and my guitar in the background).
Pattern I made it up
Size Men's size 7.5
Needles US 3 - 3.25 mm
Yarn
Paton Kroy Socks FX, Clover Colors - 2 balls

These socks follow my standard toe-up design with no real pattern on the top of the foot or the leg. What makes them interesting is the use of a Heel Stitch on the whole bottom of the foot, which is a very simple:

  1. R1: (S1, K1) to end of row
  2. R2: K to end of row

The result is thicker than standard stockinette and is quite durable.

Using heel stitch took a bit of care1, as the row and stitch gauge for heel stitch is higher than that for regular stockinette, which affects both sizing and shaping, but I really liked how it turned out!

The basic template is:

  1. Cast on 36 sts with Judy’s Magic Cast-on and increase to 62, arranged across four needles as 15, 15, 16, 16.
  2. Knit across needles 1 and 2, heel stitch across needles 3 and 4.
  3. On bottom periodically add a short-row to even up length.2
  4. At 13cm from toe start gusset, increase 10 stitches per side.3
  5. Knit flap in heel stitch across 16 sts and 20 rows.
  6. Turn, join up, decrease to 60 sts, and knit leg.
  7. Finish with twisted stitch rib (k1 tbl, p1).
  8. Bind off with Jeny’s Super Stretchy Bind-off.

  1. In particular, as you’ll note in the template, I made use of short rows on the bottom of the foot to accommodate for the higher row gauge. This prevents the sock from curling downward. ↩

  2. After completing a slip stitch row, turn, purl back, turn, then do another slip stitch row. ↩

  3. Don’t forget to continue adding short rows in the heel stitch section. ↩