Windowpane socks tutorial, part 3

Once you've finished the cuff, pick up stitches to do a heel flap. For this sock, I picked up 30 stitches along 5 of my 11 squares. (If you did 10 squares, pick up stitches along 5 squares. If you did 12 squares, pick up stitches along 6 squares.) You can also pick up along half squares if you like, but I don't mind a narrower heel flap.

Knit your preferred heel flap pattern. I did an eye of partridge heel because I like how it looks with handpainted yarn.

1. *Slip 1, K1*, repeat across the row.
2. Purl back
3. Slip 1, *K1, Slip 1*, repeat across the row
4. Purl back

Repeat steps 1-4 until you have about 2.5-3 inches of heel flap. This works out to 20-25 rows. Knit more if you have a higher instep, and fewer if you want a tighter heel.


Then turn the heel. On the right side:
1. Slip 1, knit to the middle of the row. Knit 2, SSK, Knit 1, turn.
2. Purl 6, Purl 2 together, Purl 1, turn
Continue turning the heel until you've used up all of your stitches.


On a knit row, pick up and knit 20-25 stitches up the side of the heel flap.

Then pick up and knit 30-36 stitches along the front of your cuff.

And then pick up and knit another 20-25 stitches down the other side of your heel flap(this number should match the number you picked up on the other side of your heel flap). The number you pick up will be determined by how many rows of heel flap you knit -- mine is usually the number of rows plus one or two extra stitches so that there's no gap at the turn. (On my sock, I picked up 23 stitches up each side, and 32 stitches across the front.)



Each round now starts at the beginning of the "back" needle. Knit one full round from back to front.

In the next round:
1. K1, SSK, knit until there are only 3 stitches left on the "back" needle, then K2tog and K1.
2. Knit across the front of the sock.
3. Knit across the back of the sock
4. Knit across the front of the sock.

Repeat from #1 until you're down to the number of stitches you prefer for the foot of your socks. For me, that's about 60-64 stitches, depending on the yarn and needle size.

To knit the random squares on the foot
The random squares are done by first making a mitered square anywhere on the top of the foot, then knitting and purling your way back and forth around the sock, picking up one stitch from the edge of the square and knitting or purling it together with the last stitch that's on your needle. I generally start the mitered square where the beginning of my darker "windowframe" colour begins. which is partly why they're so randomly placed.

I'll cover this step in the next tutorial, which I'll post in a couple of days.

Note: This is not recommended for beginner sock knitters as you do need to know basic sock foot construction.