Monica Knits

A few days ago I wrote about the professional, polished ridgeline finish that can be achieved on a turning heel with the SSK stitch. Then I looked at a few of my sock books and patterns and noticed that the patterns didn't have a matching stitch for the opposite side of the sock. I found that odd and did a bit of research, including World War 2 vintage patterns, and didn't find a sock pattern with a matching stitch for the opposite side of the foot. One common pairing of decreases was the SSK with a P2tog. So I sat down and experimented until I found a closer match. Read more ...

Does symmetry matter on the bottom of the foot? Not really, but I like the appearance of the ridgeline on some socks, and if I were knitting a hat or garment where the decreases were more obvious, I would want the style lines to be symmetric. The prominance of the ridgeline depends on the color, texture and type of the yarn. For example, in a mohair, it won't matter since the stitch definition isn't strong and the line would disappear.

In the two examples of merino yarn on this page, the style line is less obvious on the light blue than the dark blue yarn. I had originally knitted some swatches in a "bare" (white) yarn and the style line hardly showed up in the photographs, so I switched to the light blue. I just completed another pair of socks for my father and the strong, style line was perfect for a classic, masculine sock, in dusk blue merino yarn.

To create the ridge on the turning heel, use a SSK for the decrease on the knit rows. Substitute a Slip 1, p1, PSSO for the decrease on the purl rows instead of the common P2tog decrease.

Related Posts
Dad's Socks
Slip Purl PSSO Decrease
SSK
Stitch Patterns
Turning Heel - SSK Appearance