Monday, January 1, 2007

No Hole Heels on Slippers/Socks.

No Hole Heels on Slippers/Socks.
I created an Excel spreadsheet quite awhile ago so I can pretty much put in the number of pegs I'm going to use and Excel does most of the figuring for me, it makes it quick and easy when doing slippers and socks on different looms. When doing a slipper/sock on the blue Knifty Knitter this is how I do the heel so there are no holes. It's a two step process; decrease and increase. You will start the heel after completing the ankle. So if you were to try this on Meilynne's KK sock pattern you would substitute it on "Heel Flap & Turn Heel" in her instructions. The reason I like doing the heels this way is everything looks lined up when done...give it a try and leave me a comment if you do! Any suggestions to add to the post please let me know :)

Heel
Decrease:
Row Wrap & Knit Pegs Wrap & Turn Peg
1 1-12 13 *see note
2 12-2 1
3 2-11 12
4 11-3 2
5 3-10 11
6 10-4 3
7 4-9 10
8 9-5 4
*Note: Row 1: Starting at peg 1. Wrap pegs 1 to 12 and knit over, at peg 13 lift off the loop, take the working yarn towards the inside of the loom and then wrap the peg so you are facing back towards peg 12, place the loop back on the peg. You'll have two loops on peg 13. It's a bit awkward but you'll get used to it. On row 2 you will do exactly the same as row 1 but knit pegs 12-2 and lift the loop on peg 1.
When you finish with decreasing you will start the increasing step, you will knit 2 over 1 on the pegs that have 3 loops on them.

Increase:
Wrap & Knit (knit 2 over 1 on the pegs that have 3 loops on them from when you did the decreases)
Row Pegs
9 5-10
10 10-4
11 4-11
12 11-3
13 3-12
14 12-2
15 2-13
16 13-1
When you are finished, all pegs should have only one loop on them and you should be at peg 1. Now you can complete the foot of the slipper.

On the pair pictured below I did the above steps and found the heel too small so I increased the rows. The slippers were done on the regular gauge Mini WonderLoom and the gauge is a bit smaller than the KK's so adjustments were made. I knit 26 pegs but because the amount of pegs is divided in half for the heel and 26 comes out to 13, an odd number, I did the heel as if I were using 28 pegs...so I started row 1 with wrapping and knitting pegs 1-14 and lifting the loop on peg 15 and then worked down from there. The heel is a tad wider and fits much nicer. The table is under the picture. For the complete pattern, and not just the heel, you can purchase the Scruffie Slipper at Loom Knitting Designs. Lisa has some great patterns at her site, including a few free ones to check out.


Here's the table for it:
Decreasing:
Row Wrap & Knit Pegs Wrap & Turn Peg
1 1-14 15
2 14-2 1
3 2-13 14
4 13-3 2
5 3-12 13
6 12-4 3
7 4-11 12
8 11-5 4
9 5-10 11
10 10-6 5
Increasing:
Row Pegs
11 6-11
12 11-5
13 5-12
14 12-4
15 4-13
16 13-3
17 3-14
18 14-2
19 2-15
20 15-1
Now your heel should be complete, and you will start the rows for your foot. I tried closing the toe with the Kitchener Stitch but because Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick yarn is so thick it just did not look good, the toe looked much too squarish for my taste so I do not recommend closing that way.

If you'd like a shortened version of Holeless Heels click here to download a PDF file.

8 comments:

Brenda, Domedweller said...

Excellent information and well-written! Thanks for sharing.

Lynne said...

YES! I finally understand the wrap and turn. None of the other sites I've visited with explanations mentioned what to do with the three strands and how to get rid of them. Thanks for spelling out from start to finish.

Kathy said...

This is great thank you so much for the explaination.

Lilly said...

excellent explanation! i wish i found this 2 weeks ago before i unraveled all my socks out of frustration over the holey heels!

KansasA said...

Thanks Lilly, I'm afraid it's been so long since I've loomed I might need my own instructions! :)

Fe said...

This is cool. I actually made one similar before (http://radlinccrafts.blogspot.com/2008/11/loom-knit-slipper-socks.html) I like how you did the instruction tables. Very clever.

Amy said...

Thanks for the instructions. I have a friend who is trying to turn a heel on the kk loom for the first time and I know she'll have no problem with your instructions. I like to work the toe just like the heel, then close using a zig-zag-stitch 1 and 24, 2 and 23, 3 and 22 etc. The toe is nicely rounded and looks great.

Stacey said...

This is wonderful, thank you sooo much! I'm making a slipper boot for my daughter for Christmas and the heel has turned out beautiful!!!