Two by One Ribbing

The other day I blogged on some socks with a e-wrap selvedge and 2 x 1 ribbed topper.

The e-wraps I’ve been doing have all been: e-wrap, knit one row, change applicable cylinder needles over to rib needles. So to do that, I actually put the ribber on before completing the first row of knit so that I can switch out the needles at the beginning of the row before the ribber hits it.

I wondered what would happen if I knit 2 rows instead of one before switching to the ribbing.

Here’s my experiment, using Colinette Jitterbug, colour Sahara from stash. (100% merino, a little heavier gauge than Koigu).

A. With One Knit Row before Ribbing

And B. With 2 Rows Knitting before Ribbing

In the top pair, with one row knit, the loops on the selvedge are two stitch (I think) size, while the extra row knitting renders those loops as single stitch size and looks very similar to the edge on a 1×1 rib.

The two rows knit, B, also has the added effect of a piping-type edge. It isn’t/doesn’t roll, just gives a pronounced finish, and on the outside of the garment, not inside against the skin.

(If you haven’t caught it before on my blog, almost all my photos can click to enlarge if you want a closer view.)

Work wise, I found no difference in difficulty or time between the two edges as both require the same number of needles swapped in and out. I suppose the B pair uses an extra yard of yarn for the extra row.

Big Boring Man Socks (Fortissima)

When I was little, my favourite (spinster) auntie taught me a trick to help me though the big fight at meal time to eat my vegetables. “Eat them first and get them out of the way; then enjoy savouring the things (meat) that you love”. It actually worked. Well except for squash which to this day I would rather die than eat.

So I’m knitting boring man socks in January.

Here are some samples:

Fortissima Socka 100: #2071, #2072, #2073

Fortissima Socka 100: #2059, #2058, #2055

These are all XL (Mens shoe size 13 – 15) and are all knit with the 72 needle cylinder on the Verdun 47.

To make things a little more interesting, I varied my heel/toe construction in some of the pairs. Usually I do a 1 up on beginning of row for decreases, and 1 down on end of row for increases. An alternate method I hadn’t used before is the same on the decreases, but for the increases does one needle up at the beginning of the row, and two needles down and the end of the row. Same net effect of one needle down but apparently smaller ‘holes’ along the join.

To be honest, I don’t see much difference. Of course my eye sight is becoming unreliable. Either way, I don’t find this heel method takes measurably longer to do, and its nice to vary things around a bit while knitting solids.

I also tried a different selvedge than I’ve used before: using an e-wrap on all cylinder needles, then one row knit on all needles, then to ribbing. (This instead of starting with the ribber needles in action and knitting one row with ribber ‘on’ and two rows with ribber ‘off’ then back on which creates a selvedge).

OK. This, I really like. I’m happy all the different toppers I knit, but this is particularly pleasing. (There are excellent step by step instructions here.) I wasn’t timing my work, but I’d dare say it only added a few minutes a sock, even with my big man fingers.

Lorna’s Legses

I haven’t made leg warmers for a while.

Here’s how I made them, before:

I made these from the Ankle up. In the closeup photo you can see I did a double-double hem. The inner hem was to go inside a boot, and the outer- a pico hem – went over top of the boot.

The top was a 3:1 mock rib. Done in reverse (since going from the ankle up). To do that, I knit in a constrasting colour of yarn 80 rows before the end. Then, after off the knitter, I would stitch the final tail of yarn sort-or-kitchener-ish joining the last row knit to the row marked with the scrap yarn. The challenge in that was to make sure I didn’t muck up which row I was joining to. Not so much difficult as very slow.

I found these leg warmers took about three times the time to make, compared to a pair of socks and I didn’t feel they could command three times the price so I only made them when I really needed a break.

I modified my pattern recently to come up with a decent leg warmer that didn’t take so long to knit.

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport – The L

In this version I’m knitting from the top down. I’ve got the same 3:1 mock rib top, but joining first row knit to the last row knit – easy peazy. The body of the leg remains full stockinette as in previous pattern. And the bottom cuff is a 1x 1 rib finished with a Simple Purl Bind Off as used in my fingerless gloves here.

So these are knit right off the sock knitter. No scrap yarn. No stitching. Only the closing tail to weave in (10 seconds).

I could just as easily knit the topper as a rib rather than a mock rib. It would use less yarn if that were an issue. The mock rib top is reversible, so can be folded down, if desired, and still present the ‘good side’.

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport – Jeans

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport – Navy Pier

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport – Buckingham Fountain

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport – Skyway

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport – 100% Superwash Merino; ~200 yds/2 oz.

I knit at about 10 rows per inch, which made adjusting for various sizes easy to calculate. I keep my topper and bottom the same size but alter number of rows in the leg body to change sizes from 15 – 18″ to accommodate most sizes.

I vary my tension as I knit these leg warmers, to assist in shaping the beasts. You can probably tell, by the changing pattern of the hand painted colours, where I made my adjustments.

These were fun to make and, deviously, knit to match some of the fingerless gloves I made.

Simple Purl Bind Off on Fingerless Gloves III

Carrying on now, from the initial stitch on the thumb flap, when working counterclockwise, having knit the final row clockwise.

  • You see there are two loops on the latch tool. The top one is the loop I made on the initial stitch. And I left that new loop on the tool. The lower loop is where I have pushed the latch tool through the loop of the 2nd stitch. This is easier to accomplish if you pull the cylinder needle forward which stretches the loop and makes it easier to poke the tool through.

I’m working on the 2nd cylinder needle of the thumb flap. Note that my working yarn is to the left of that needle, and I’ve pushed the latch tool through on the right of that needle.

(I use the terms left and right only to describe the photo. I use the words ‘leading’ and ‘trailing’ while I work because, as you know, once you get to the other side of the cylinder it ain’t ‘left and right’ any more!)

  • When you push the latch tool through the loop of the stitch, be sure to push it all the way though so that the latch has gone beyond the loop.
  • Bring the working yarn across the front of the cylinder needle being worked, and lay it into the hook.
  • Pull the working yarn up through the two loops that are on the shaft of the latch tool, creating a new loop. LEAVE that loop on the latch tool.

Repeat all the way across the needles of the thumb flap.

It is very important that the latch tool is pushed through on the leading side of the worked needle and the working yarn is coming from the trailing side. If tool and tail are on same side of needle that stitch will drop!

  • When I get to the last stitch, I pull the new loop through till I have about 9 inches or so of yarn pulled through, and then cut it. This tail will be used to do a blanket stitch to close the side edges of the thumb later.

In the video, they do an extra pass through on final stitches to ‘lock’ them. I don’t. The long tail will prevent an unravel, and I just make sure to snug up the final stitch before closing the thumb sides.

On the completion of the final stitch I take the extra weights off my thumb flap, push all those needes down, and run the flap off the needles.

(The video suggests making sure the needle latches are UP for that step. I’m not sure if that’s a Gearhart difference, but on my Legarés and Verduns it doesn’t matter if the latches are opened or closed so long at the working yarn is NOT in the yarn carrier.)

When I finish the open fingers portion on the knitting, I do the Simple Purl Bind Off in the same direction as I’ve been knitting – counterclockwise. So there’s no need to fuss with the inital stitch as I do with the thumb. I just set right to it as demonstrated in the Gearhart video. When I get to the end I do the initial stitch a second time to tie it all in, but I don’t do the extra ‘lock’ step. I leave about 6″ tail for weaving in.

So, a nice clean bind off that saves a lot of scrap yarn and a lot of time.

Thanks to the folks at erlbachergearhart for producing the video that got me going on this project.

The specific video is on Part I of this tutorial, as are links to the other aspects of the way I  knit Fingerless Gloves.

Simple Purl Bind Off on Fingerless Gloves II

Here’s our starting point for the first purl stitch in the bind off of the thumb flap.

The needle pointed to with the red arrow was the last stitch the knit, clockwise row. The yarn is now out of the carrier and all needles raised.

We are going to be working counter clockwise (left to right in the photo) and the trailing yarn is to the right of the indicated needle – where we will make our first stitch.

But the yarn needs to be to left of that needle when we make the stitch.

  • No problem – just hold the yarn BEHIND that initial needle, then out to the front of the cylinder. I’m trying to take photos with one hand, hold the yarn with one hand, and manipulate the latch tool with one hand!
  • Now  take the latch hook tool and, KEEPING IT BEHIND the working yarn  push it through the loop of the stitch on the initial needle, making sure it is on the Leading Work side of that needle.
  • Push the latch tool all the way though so that the latch itself has gone past the loop you are passing it through.

So our latch tool is on the Leading side of the needle being worked, while the working yarn is on the Trailing side. If the trailing yarn and latch tool are on the same side, the stitch will end up dropping after the work is off the knitter.

As mentioned in the video and last post, you can do this stitch in either direction, BUT the latch tool and trailing yarn MUST be on opposite sides of the needle being worked either way.

  • Now bring the trailing yarn around in front of the needle being worked, and lay the yarn in the hook of the latch tool.
  • Pull the tool up through the loop and wrapped trail that we worked above. Make sure the latch of the tool closes only around the yarn you laid in the hook – ie doesn’t snag on the loops your pulling through.

When you pull the yarn all the way though, you have created a new loop.

  • LEAVE that new loop on the latch tool and safely up above the latch.

That’s the Initial Purl Stitch for binding off completed.

Next part of tutorial – the subsequent Regular stitches.

Simple Purl Bind Off on Fingerless Gloves I

I got some great tips from this You Tube video by erlbachergearhart: Simple & Full Fashioned Purl Bind Off

YouTube Preview Image

I thought this purl bind off would make a great improvement for my time consuming and tediously finicky Fingerless Gloves.

So this post is actually a Tutorial Addendum to my previous tutorials on fingerless gloves to be found here:

Pico Hem Top

Thumb – Part I

Thumb – Part II

This finishing method will use the Simple Purl Stitch Bind Off as an alternative to finishing the thumb and open finger area with scrap yarn and hand stitching a finished edge and removing the scrap. The only hand finishing that remains to be done in this method is closing the sides of the thumb with a blanket stitch. For me, this is a huge time saver and uses a fraction of the scrap yarn (casting on only).

I adapted a wee bit from the video for the thumb but the concepts are all the same.

I’m going to split this tutorial up into several sections to ease the pain of my big files on those with slower speed internet service. (I know your pain!)

To begin, I’ve knit the beginning of the glove and I am just finished knitting the thumb flap. (I am working with Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport yarn, 100% wool, colour Jeans).

This photo is taken from the right side. So the yarn carrier is at 12 o’clock. The thumb flap is on the left of the photo, knit on 22 needles, finishing with a clockwise row.

Small difference from earlier method – I knit 29 row thumb flap instead of 28 so that my yarn would finish on the left side. The purl cast off can be done in either direction, but I want to work in my ‘normal’ direction of cranking – counter clockwise so this is how I go about it.

The non-thumb needles were already raised out of work while I knit the thumb flap. Now, to prepare for the purl cast off I:

  • Raise all the thumb needles as well. (Leaving all main and thumb weights in place.)
  • Remove the yarn from the yarn carrier BUT leave it in the take-up spring.
  • Don’t cut the yarn!

You can see my working yarn is just to the left of the final thumb needle. (This row was knit clockwise.)

Coming Next: the all important first stitch!

Tweaking Size Small on 72

A few posts back I blogged about mid-calf socks I knit for DW with Patons Cotton Stretch.

She was happy with them (so she said) but I thought there was a little more fabric in the toe than I like to see. Also, she tried them on right after I made them and the leg did size down almost an inch in the first wash.

I added a dozen rows to the leg, which after washing put me at the right place.

For the toe – recall that I would normally knit Size Small (Ladies 5.5 – 8ish) on the 54 cylinder, but I knit these on the 72, with a rib, to all for the wider part of the calf.

Usually, when exiting a rib in preparation for a toe, I stop the ribbing 5 rows before the end of the foot – whether in true ribbing or mock ribbing – and go to full stockinette, knit 5 rows, then knit the toe. Part of switching to full stockinette is to make an easier job of kitchener stitch on closing, although I have done kitchener into a rib and its not really that much more complicated.

The change I made to narrow the toe in this pair – I kept on ribbing right up to the point of starting the toe . Instead of quitting 5 rows earlier, I quit only 4 rows earlier and then started my toe.  When I stopped the yarn carrier in the 6 o’clock position to prepare for knitting the toe I switched out the ribbing needles remaining on the instep onto cylinder needles, BEFORE raising the back needles in prep of knitting the short rows.

So my foot is 4 rows shorter than ‘normal’ and I begin the short rows. BUT when I get to the yellow marks on the cylinder that signal the end of the decrease rows, I keep decreasing for 4 more rows – so I end up with 2 more needles raised on both the left and right side.

By decreasing 4 extra rows my foot is actually now the ‘normal’ length, and the toe comes to a narrower end – 12 stitches wide instead of the 16 stitches between the yellow marks.

My increases then are done as usual, with the exception that there are 4 extra passes, ending up at the red marks where a toe would normally finish.

When I lower the back needles for the final pass, I’m in effect doing one row of stockinette for my finishing round, which then sets me up for an easy kitchener session.

Here you can see the size Small sitting on top of a Size Medium that was knit also on the 72 cylinder at the same tension – but in full stockinette. The lower sample is Fortissima Cotton Stretch.

So finished pattern for size Small, Cotton Stretch on 72 cylinder with tension set for ~12 rows per inch:

  • Topper – 1 x 1 rib for 20 rows (then switch needles to 3 x 1)
  • Leg – 90 rows 3 x 1 rib (then switch out rib needles on instep)
  • Pre-heel – 20 rows
  • Heel – regular short row
  • Foot – 56 rows (bottom is stockinette, instep continues in 3 x 1)
  • Switch out remaining rib needles.
  • Narrow Toe – with short rows decreasing until 12 stitches remaining)

I haven’t tried this with mock rib instead of rib yet, but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work – I’d do the topper in 3 x 1, 40 rows,hang hem and than carry on. And remembering to pick up stitches when switching out a stitch from mock rib to stockinette.

Rib bits

This isn’t a tutorial on ribber use…. but just a few random little tidbits that I keep in mind while using the ribber.

1. If I want to keep knitting between socks instead of running the completed sock off the knitter, I knit about 20 rows of scrap yarn. Then I place my heel fork as shown, about 15 rows down from the top. The photo is taken from the side, so the fork tines are just inside the yellow heel markings. I hang a single weight, and I add a little very light pressure with my hand on the weight.  This works for me to keep the downward tension even all around the cylinder. If the fork was much higher then there would be a loose tension area at the mid point between the two tines, which could result in missed stitches.

When knitting a hem top instead of a rib top I don’t use the heel fork. I just hold on to the finished toe below the scrap yarn and, with visual clues, can keep my tension even. Using the fork/weight for a rib top allows me to keep my focus on the ribber while it is in work.

2. I start each sock with all the needles in the cylinder, and on scrap yarn, regardless of starting a first sock, or carrying on after a finished sock. You can see I’ve got the retention spring pulled out from the cylinder onto the little holder bit on the outer cam shell. This allows taking each cylinder needle out without having to pry it from behind the spring. I just place ribber needles in the empty horizontal slots, and then transfer a cylinder stitch by lifting it right onto the ribber needle.  You may note that I’m using the Verdun 47 in my examples. The Verdun Ribber Dial (the thing with the horizontal slots) is sized so that the ribber needles protrude over the edge of the dial by about 1/8″.  In this case, I find transferring the stitches as described works best for me.

(On the Legare, the ribber needles do not protrude over the edge and that makes me prone to dropping a stitch mid transfer, so I use a different method in that case. I’ll try to remember to take a pic of that.)

3. I switch from scrap yarn to sock yarn at the right side red hash mark. Here I’ve got the terminal tail of the scrap yarn going forward under the first cylinder needle  and I’ve got the sock yarn going backwards under that same needle. ie the yarns cross. I always knit with the heel spring in action, so that is why you see there is no slack in my yarns. I pull upwards gently, just enough to prevent the heel spring from pulling the yarn out before I get knitting. If you pull to strongly it is easy to pop the rib stitches at the red arrow and then, well, you have a mess!

4. Once I’ve knit a half dozen or so stitches I stop and pull my ends (the terminal end of the scrap yarn and the leading end of the good yarn) into the cylinder. Its difficult to see this but at the red arrow – reach up from underneath the cylinder with a latch hook so that it sticks out at my first good-yarn stitch. I snag the tails with that hook and pull them down inside, out of the way.

5. Tension and Selvedge.  What ever tension setting I would use with a particular sock yarn, I set my tension 1/4 turn LOOSER than that. To knit my selvedge, I knit one row with the ribber engaged, two rows with it disengaged, and then re-engage. When I re-engage the ribber that is when I tighten the tension 1/4 turn so it is now at ‘normal’ for what ever yarn I’m working.

The reason I do that little tension fudging is that it makes re-engaging the ribber much easier. I knit at a pretty high tension, and with the heel spring always in work, and that can make moving the little off-on switch jam. The bit looser tension seems to solve that problem for me. With a less stretchy yarn like a silk or bamboo, I may loosen even a bit more.

So these are some little things that are part of my knitting routine and I find that keeping these things in mind makes for things going tickety boo.

4 Tomato 5

OK. Scratch my cylinder set up from yesterday. I am going to change the location of the lower Green Marks. Recall that I started my decreases of the heel triangles (wedges) at the upper green marks, and stopped at the lower green marks.

Checking with Cat Bordhi, and re-reading (trying at least ) her dp pattern, I see my wedges should have been longer – to the extent that the back section between the wedge on one side and the other (knit by the needles between to lower green marks) should only be about an inch wide. With 24 needles between those greens, and knitting 9-10 stitches per inch, I was clearly cheating the wedges.

So my revision: I removed the two lower green marks and placed the two Blue Marks down on the 6 o’clock side of the cylinder, leaving only10 needles between the two marks (vs 24 in the earlier trials.) Note that this is narrower than the 16 needles that would normally be set as the end of standard short rows on the 72 cylinder.

Do this means that now I will have 19 decreases on each side (from the top green to the bottom blue = 19 needles).

Other than that, the heel pattern remains the same. In a nutshell:

knit a wedge; knit two rows; knit a 2nd wedge; knit two rows; knit the 3rd wedge

This Pair 4 is knit from Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock colour Buckingham Fountain.

Note that the back of the heel – to the right of the red triangle markings – is much narrower and my wedges correspondingly wider than yesterdays samples.

The red asterisk is to draw your attention to the point at which the heel is finished and the foot begins. I’m fairly happy with this but I do find in this pair there is a very small bulb of knitting that remained even after blocking. In Cat’s pattern she offers the suggestion to alter the number of rows/decreases in the final wedge if necessary to fit. So for this yarn, knit in this size and at this tension, I figure the final wedge should be a few rows shorter.

And another small change. Yesterday I found that I needed to subtract about 5 rows from the foot as compared to the same pattern with a standard short row heel.  That made sense as there was more rows of knitting in the heel.

Now with today’s modifications, there is actually even more rows in the heel, yet I found couldn’t reduce the foot by 5 rows. Possibly 2, but no more. Not sure what that’s all about – but seems the area of knitting is diverted more into the width of the heel.

So… here we arrive at Pair 5 – this pair knit with Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock colour Navy Pier.

In this pair I reduced the number of decrease rows in the final wedge by 3. So, looking at the cylinder photo above, I ended the 3rd wedge decreases at the YELLOW marks instead of the blue marks.

And I knit the same number of rows for the foot as I would with a standard short row heel.

The slightly smaller 3rd wedge gives a very smooth transition from heel to foot. I suspect the rows decreased may vary from yarn to yarn or with variations in tension or shoe size. (That’s one reason I knit all my trials with the same yarn and same size.)

Weights – I used the same single weight on a two pronged hanger as I use on everything else. I placed the hanger in the same position I usually do, maybe  a wee bit lower – so approx between the blue and yellow marks and down about 3/4″. With adding my hand a little extra weight, I only had to move up the weight once for each wedge.

Decreases – for each decrease row I raised one needle on each side, so reducing two stitches per short row.  This will give  you a slip stitch/skip stitch combined on the leading end (the side that will knit first), and a skipped stitch on the opposite end. On the final row of the decreases when there are no more needles to be raised, I wrap the last needle that was raised on the left side before knitting across to the right (so there is always a slip stitch leading a short row.)

Time – this heel, at least by the fifth pair – takes only a little more time than a standard short row heel.

Watch Points -

remain alert and remember that a toe is no longer just another heel and so to shift back into standard short row mode.

and, at the end of each wedge in the heel you are putting all the needles down into work, so many opportunities to drop a stitch to an un-lowered latch. Vigilance required!

And finally, if you haven’t checked out Cat Bordhi’s eBook, especially if you knit with sticks, I encourage you to give it a look.

Three Tomatoes and a Cat

I’ve been playing with Cat Bordhi‘s Sweet Tomato Heel construction.

Skulking around Youtube, I found this csm rendition of the heel posted by ‘gobbism.’  I wanted to explore further so picked up a copy of Cat Bordhi’s eBook of Ravelry.

My first pair, above (knit with Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock – colour Skyway) I knit more or less using gobbism’s video. I extrapolated from her 54 stitch demo to use my own 72 cylinder.

In the middle picture above I am trying to illustrate that you make three triangles for this heel construction, with two full rows of knitting between the pairs of triangles. (This, instead of the standard two-triangle short row heel).

And instead of the standard short row – one triangle made by decreases, then another made by increases, this method has three triangles that are all decreases only. In the video she knit toe up socks, using increasing triangles. I knit my sample cuff down, but also using increasing triangles.

In the picture of my sock knitter: the red and yellow marks are the standard heel markings – ie knit decreases from the red marks to the yellow marks, then increases back to the reds.

For this construction, the heel is done dividing the stitches into thirds. On the 72 cylinder that gives me a group of 24 at the 6 o’clock position and another group of 24 at the 12 o’clock postion. – indicated by the green marks.  Half of the remaining third is on the left side, and half on the ride side = 12 and 12.

In the pair above, because I was doing INCREASING triangles, I took the top 24 plus the two side groups of 12 out of work, and then knit my short row increases by raising and wrapping one needle on the side closest to the yarn carrier, while also pushing down three needles on the opposite side – so net gain of two stitches per row. And doing this back and forth until I get to the top green marks. Then, push all needles down, knit 2 rows and begin the second triangle.

In the middle photo you can see that my triangles are increasing rather than decreasing if you look at the top right corner of each triangle – as you move down from each top right corner you can see there are more stitches in each subsequent row.

On the outer edge of that photo, you can see I’ve drawn what these triangles would have looked like if I had done DECREASING short rows instead of INCREASING.

When I bought Cat’s eBook, I saw that she works in decreases instead of increases, so for my second pair I gave that a shot:

This second pair is knit with Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock colour The L.

The triangles are knit, basically, in reverse to the above, which is to say I raise only the top 24 needles, and then take two out of work each pass. So in this case you look at the top LEFT of each triangle, and you can see each row grows shorter.

Overall, the triangles look pretty much the same, but they are not. If I had shot the photos before blocking, it would be more clear that the top edge of the first triangle is more perpendicular to the leg in the DECREASE version than in the INCREASE version.

In this second example, instead of raising one needle and pushing down 3 for each pass, I wrapped the last already-raised needle on the yarn carrier side, and raised two needles on the far side – net decrease of two stitches. The purpose of wrapping that single needle to to give a cleaner join later when knitting the two rounds between triangles.

I prefer the look of the second even though the differences are few. I find there is less ‘stretching’ after blocking along the top edge of the first triangles.

However! The second version was a LOT more work, what with wrapping stitches on ever short row.

So,

This third sample is knit with Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock – colour Grant Park.

I’ve knit DECREASING triangles, as in the second pair and as in Cat’s pattern, but I’ve fiddled how I bring that all about.

I start, as in second example, with top 24 needles raised (= 48 in work).

With the yarn carrier at 12 o’clock, I wrap the last raised needle at 2 o’clock and knit around clockwise to the left.

Then I raise one needle on each side – at each end of the remaining in-work needles and knit across. I repeat this back and forth until I’ve completed the short rows, which will finish me with the yarn carrier at the left side.

I wrap last raised needle (about 7 o’clock), push all the needles down – including the wrapped one, and knit around two rows before beginning all again.

So the key labour difference is wrapping only one stitch at the beginning of the heel  and one at the end of the heel, instead of one on every pass.The wrapping of the other stitches is accomplished when that first needle on each pass is raised.

All in all,

each triangle on the 72 cylinder takes 14 short rows. So, three triangles = 42 short rows. And there are two rows knit around between each pair of triangles, so 4 more rows for a total of 46 rows or on the heel. Standard short row heel on the 72 would be 20 decreases plus 20 increases for a total of 40. So rows knit for the foot need to be reduced by 5 or 6.

Those full rows between triangles add some dimension to the top of the instep and I think this gives almost a gusset type of effect – in any event the heel is wider – so I think this heel would be good for high instep, tree trunk heels like mine, etc.

And esthetically, Cat’s construction virtually eliminates short-row holes.

In her eBook she gives some tips for adapting to larger or smaller ankles.