The Welsh heel

Yesterday I turned a Welsh heel, from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage socks. The only heel flap I have worked before is as the Harlots directs in her Basic Sock Recipe. I thought it would be fun to try something new.

Please forgive the pictures...there was some degree of acrobatics going on as I tried to photograph the bottom of the heel. I nearly pulled something. Also, the sock is for a largeish boy foot, so the heel is baggy on me, which does not show the shaping in the most attractive light. No one likes sagging. Also, I did not want to force the DPNs too much, lest they bend, so the heel is not sitting on my true heel.

Anywho, the heel is a short row heel, with YO wraps-- a new technique for me. There is also a seam stitch running down the heel. I am not sure how I feel about the seam stitch. It did not bother me when the sock was on my foot, as I thought it might.

The YO wraps look really good and neat on one side, and really funky on the other. My tentative hypothesis is that this difference is caused by my YO technique-- I do YOs differently depending on if I am knitting or purling the next stitch. The YOs that are followed by a knit are on the neat side, while the YOs that are followed by a purl are kind of lumpy.


The lumpy side:
The lumpy side and the seam stitch:
The neater side:
A semi-look at the whole thing:
The seam stitch, and accurate yarn color:
Overall, I like the way that the stitches head diagonally towards the seam stitch. I like the look of that. On the other hand, this heel came out kind of square. Heels are not square. Thankfully knitting is stretchy. We will see how N likes the feel on his foot (for reference in the next pair. There is no way I am ripping back to re-do the heel.)

Happy weekend to all!