Sock Knitting – Heels

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Heels, heels, heels!  What is a sock without a heel, just a tube (sock that is).

There are many variations of socks heels and tons of descriptions and tutorials for most of them.  On this page, I will list as many of the heel types as I can and I will link to a description/tutorial of how to work each heel. If you think you want to do a particular heel, do a search on your favourite search engine for more tutorials and information on each heel type.

Traditional Heels:

The following heels are listed here (scroll down for more):

Gusset Heel

Toe-up Gusset Heel

Square Heel (aka Dutch Heel)

Modified Square Heel

Round Heel (aka French Heel)

Rounder Heel

V-Heel (aka Handkerchief Heel, aka Half Handkerchief Heel)

Band Heel (aka German Strap Heel)

Short Row Heel

Gusset Heel (aka Flap/Gusset) from For Dummies — The stitches of the tube of the cuff-down sock (there are also toe up variations) are divided in half. One-half of the stitches are knit back and forth. The heel is then turned and short rows are worked to create a triangle on the bottom of the foot. The gusset is then worked by picking up stitches along the flap (see note). Decrease the number of stitches every second row until you have the original number of stitches on your needle and continue with the foot of the sock.

(Notes: To prevent a hole when starting the gusset, pick up and extra stitch on each side of the instep and knit together with the first (and last) stitch of the instep on the first round. To make a deeper heel add rows to the flap and pick up an extra stitch on each side for the gusset

Toe up Gusset Heel by MaiaSpins — One-third of the foot stitches are worked back and forth. Turn the heel and do short rows on a smaller number of stitches. Pick up stitches and then decrease stitches to the original number.

Square Heel (aka Dutch Heel)

Modified Square Heel

Round Heel (aka French Heel)

Rounder Heel

V-Heel (aka Handkerchief Heel, aka Half Handkerchief Heel)

Band Heel (aka German Strap Heel)

Short Row Heel by CosmicPluto — These mimic short row toes. Half the stitches are decreased with a wrap and turn method, then these same stitches are increased, picking up the wraps from the short rows.

Roomier Short Row Heels by Tessknits

The Beehive Aladdin Heel at the bottom of the page.

Multiple Heels covered:

Heels by Number

KnitPicks Heel and Toe Glossary

Three Sets of Sock Heels by Lara Neel

Some new and innovative heels:

The following are variations of a flap and gusset heel but without the need to pick up stitches.

Fleegle Heel by Fleegle. (Toe up and has been adapted for cuff down)

Knitters Brewing Company variation of the Fleegle Heel (cuff down) that looks more like the toe up variation of the Fleegle heel.

Fleegle Hybrid on the Template by Reena Meijer Drees.

Strong Heel by Gerdine Crawford-Strong is very similar to the Fleegle heel. You can find instructions for it a Fiber Camp Boston pdf. (Cuff down and has been adapted for toe up)

Non-Stop Heel by Katherine Misegades

Keel Heel (toe up) by Renee Strouts is a variation on the flap and gusset heel.

The following are short row heels (including some that can be done as an afterthought heel):

Fish Lips Heel by Sox Therapist (there is a fee for this pattern)

Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi (Toe up and cuff down)

Padded Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi (Toe up and cuff down)

Crystal Heel by ColorJoy

Unique Constructions

Hat Heel by Kathleen Sperling starts at the back of the heel, creates a hat-like heel cup and the rest of the sock is knit from there, first going in one direction (towards the toes) then the other (towards the cuff)