Friday, July 18, 2014

Fish Lips Kiss heel socks - On The Needles

Trying another new (at least to me) method of doing sock heels.  This one has the very imaginative name of Fish Lips Kiss, because of the way it looks when finished. Personally, I don't see it, but I think I like the method.  I have just finished the heels on a pair of socks which I am doing two at a time, toe up on two needles. It is a short-row method without wrapping or counting.  Very straight forward once you understand how to make the twin stitch and the twin purl and do so properly each time (guess who kept forgetting the which way to mount the stitch? urgh, senior brain syndrome).

This method also uses a footprint, similar to Cat Bordhi's footprint to correctly size the sock and to indicate where to end toe increases and where to begin the heel. I do like this, my socks fit so much better with footprints.

The sock on the right has the footprint in the sock, showing how it will fit on my foot. The socks are the same size, the left one just looks smaller because it doesn't have the cardboard footprint.



The footprint, which is a tracing of my foot, has a line indicating where to stop making toe increases, and one (determined by ankle bone) of where to begin the heel. The designer also includes a way to double check that you have placed things correctly by doing some calculations, hence the dotted line on the heel.  The white bits you see curling around the edges at the toe end are the ends of a mailing label that is on the other side, on which I have recorded the type of yarn, size of needles, etc. for future reference. When I use this method for a different size yarn, I'll add another label.


If you are interested in giving this a try the method/instructions/pattern info:

Fish Lips Kiss Heel


Be aware that this is instructions for making the footprint and how to make the heel, with explanations of why this works. It is not a line by line pattern for a whole sock.  The cost is only a dollar, for me it was well worth it. There is also a Ravelry group "Sox Therapy" in which designer participates and will answer questions, should they arise.

Check out:On the Needles to see what other knitters  are doing.

4 comments:

Dar said...

What a great pair of socks. Love the yarn and I am very interested in learning new ways to do heels and socks in general. Of course, when you are as new as I at making socks, every technique is new! lol. Thanks much for the reference information. I'm off to check it out.

Ramona said...

I've never heard of making a footprint to use when making socks, but it makes perfect sense! Thanks for sharing. Your socks are wonderful.

Mary said...

Your socks look great. I am also going to follow the Fish Kiss Lips method for the heel but I'm not quite there yet on my pair. Love that there is no gusset to knit.

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