why didn't anyone tell me?

[wyomingnot]

I can't even remember where I first heard it mentioned... but I tried out Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel for the first time the other day. OMG. So much better to work than wrap-and-turn crap.

I hope it fits okay. Because working it was awesome.

Also. Hi!

edit to add... Foolish me. I should have linked to the helpful video.

:)

Comments

[laughingrat]

Huh, that sounds promising. I loathe wrap-and-turn heels and avoid toe-up socks accordingly.

[wyomingnot]

I loathe kitchener more than wrap-and-turn, so I switched to toe-up a couple years ago. ;) But now there's nothing to loathe!

[wednesday]

Is there a matching toe? I think I would just about faint were there a matching toe.

[wyomingnot]

Not that I know of. I switched to toe-up a couple years back due to my hate of kitchener. I'm quite enamored of Judy's Magic Cast-On.

[wednesday]

I like toe-up in theory, and JMCO in practice, but have yet to find an actual toe shape which doesn't either make me tear the toe out again and again because the increases leave gaps, or make me give up in frustration because POINTY. :/ Then again, can't handle short row toes as a whole because gaps.

[tephra]

The method I use for my toes yields a rounded toe, it's short though, which (since I have short toes) works great for me, but you might want to knit a bit plain before starting any stitch patterns if you prefer the length of a standard wedge toe.

If you increase one stitch in every time you end up with a visible band on the sides. I don't care for that much so I alternate increasing one stitch in and three stitches in. Sometimes I rotate through 1, 3, and 5 stitches in.

JMCO 1/3 of your eventual sock stitches.

Increase every round until you have 2/3rds of your stitches. I use an M1 increase or yarn over and then twist it closed in the next round. You can use whatever increase you like, but if you are stacking increases you can't use the lifted stitch increases.

Increase every other round until you reach your final stitch count.

For my stubby toes this puts the end of the sock toe about at the base of my big toe. With lace patterns this can mean I flash some toe cleavage in the yarn overs. I don't mind that but if you do, knit some rows before starting any lace patterns.

[wednesday]

Wherever possible, I inc1 in stitch below because m1 yields an obvious tension difference and yo/twist has a visible twist. (And then there's the bump from kfb. Oh god, the bump from kfb.) This could get interesting. :/

Short rounded toe sounds like the perfect thing; I'll have to see if I can make this one work despite my shortcomings. Thanks!

[tephra]

If you stagger your increases you should be able to do the lifted stitch increases, they just don't work if you increase in the same place every row.

[wyomingnot]

This is interesting. I started a new pair last night and am trying this out! Thanks!

[tephra]

You're welcome. :)

I'm happy with this toe, but my next pair of socks, whenever I get to them (I have a backup in my gift queue I need to clear) I think I'll try casting on 1/4 of the total and then increase every row to 1/2, every other row to 3/4, and then every third row to the total. It should make for a longer but still rounded toe, sort of almond shaped.

[aderam]

Do you have a link to it? Where can I find this Tomato Heel? I R intrigued.

[ariandar]

Cat Bordhi's YouTube channel has saved my butt many times. Here's a link to the video tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRc3309JUyc

[aderam]

Thanks! I will definitely check this out. :)

[wyomingnot]

I probably should put a link in the post, yeah?

*facepalm*

ariandar linked to the yt vid I used.

[aderam]

More than okay. I probably should have just googled it. :)

Bones has very understanding eyebrows...

[wyomingnot]

All videos are not created equal!

Like last night. I had to hit the net (again) for the helpful video reminding me how to use JMCO with magic loop 2-at-a-time. The first google hit was for the knitting article, which was not what I was looking for. In fact, the video that was so helpful to me before wasn't even on that first page. I had to go back in my youtube history to find it. (it's now been saved to my laptop)

:)

Mmmmm. Bones.

[pensnest]

That looks *great*. I'm half-way up the foot of a sock, I should give this a go. No more gaps!

[wyomingnot]

Okay, I did manage to have one gap. But that was totally my fault - I'd been doing two-at-a-time with magic loop on circs that were not long enough for me.... After the first wedge, I put them on separate circs. Yay!

Don't make the same mistake I did and not try them on before you're done. Turns out I should have only done two and a half wedges. Oops. And I'm not frogging two days worth of knitting. So oddness will remain.

:)

[aunty_marion]

Cool! I've seen it mentioned, but not seen the actual method till now. I think I may have to give this a try on the next pair of socks I make for myself. I usually work toe-up, and it's good to know that this heel will work for both that and top-down.

Another fan of Judy's Magic Cast-on here; I usually do the heel from the Express Lane socks, as it has no wrap-and-turns, which I've found a bloody nuisance. The Express Lane heel turn has yarn-overs instead, and produces a very nice heel with no holes at the corners, as a rule (some small amount of tightening might need to happen).

[evilawyer]

I can't follow videos to save my life. It's why my sainted mother had not enough patience to teach me to knit person. Do you perchance know of a transcript of the directions? I know, it's me that's the strange one, but if I can read the instructions instead of only watching someone do it, I have a decent chance of actually doing a half way decent job. And I'd love no gaps in my heels!

[wyomingnot]

Videos are useless for me for spinning learning, so I understand completely.

I found a written tutorial... http://fingeringyarn.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/sweet-tomato-heel/ ..but you probably would want the video handy for a supplement.

:)

[wednesday]

Ooo, thank you! I don't have a problem with videos per se, but the mother/daughter metaphor was really driving me bat. (Not that it's not in the written version, but it's easier to drop from active processing, as it were. ^^ )

[wyomingnot]

Oh man. I hate that part. Hate hate hate. But it got the point across, I suppose. Don't know if it would have gone as well if she'd used something fannish... :)

[evilawyer]

Thanks! :)