Running with scissors... kinda

I did it. I cut my knitting. Nothing super serious like a steek, but I’ve added an afterthought heel without using waste yarn during knitting. I didn’t really know where the heel would be placed which is why I didn’t want to put in waste yarn.

I struggled to find some information about where to place the heel since I didn’t use waste yarn then I found this post by Grad School Knitter. There is also the post from the Yarn Harlot from late-2007 which is when I first learned about this possibility.

Two DPNs in knitting - There is a row inbetween

Yarn snipped

Voila! Heel!

A couple of tips…

1. As for placement, I did as suggested by Grad School Knitter and placed it 2″ short of my foot length e.g. 9.5″ foot length so placed at 7.5″.
2. I placed two DPNs into my knitting before snipping the middle stitch which meant I didn’t have to then pick up stitches once the cut was made. I used much smaller DPNs (2mm instead of 2.5mm) — insert the one on top of where you’ll snip first, then the one underneath — it’s just easier to manipulate that way.
3. When you cut the middle stitch and unpick, don’t get annoyed at having to pull so much yarn through towards the end and trim it off since uh, this is still live yarn and needs to have the end woven in. This could’ve been mildly disastrous.
4. Pick up a stitch either side just to close any holes (as you would do if you were knitting a standard gusset/heel) – though maybe two would’ve been better here.

I am actually going to re-knit this heel as it is a bit tight for my high instep, but the process will be essentially the same with the difference being of slowing down the last 2-3 decreases. Once both socks are done, I’ll show them off. I love this first one! Can’t wait to wear them this winter!

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