Sock School: Heel School Is in Session

If there’s one part of a sock that makes new knitters hesitate, it’s the heel.

You can happily knit round and round, watching your sock grow, and then suddenly the pattern starts talking about heel flaps, heel turns, gussets and picking up stitches.

Wait. What just happened?

Don’t panic. The heel isn’t a knitting obstacle course. It’s simply the part of the sock that changes direction and gives your foot somewhere to go.

Once you understand what each piece does, the whole thing becomes much less mysterious.

Before you launch into knitting a heel, make sure you understand the anatomy of a sock.