Anatomy of a sock!

I was thinking about my knitting, and my blog, and realized that not everyone who reads this is going to understand what I am talking about when I say that I "am ready to turn the heel" or other things about the process of making a sock. I also definitely think in terms of anatomy, greatly in part to my job. So I thought I would take you through the anatomy and evolution of a sock!

I am working on all my socks top down right now. That means that I start with the cuff, and end with the toe. The other way to make them is starting at the toe and working up to the cuff. I am still relatively new at sock knitting, and I have not tried it from the toe up yet. One advantage to the top down, is that if for any reason I ran out of yarn, at the toes, no one would really see them, and if I needed to do a different color at the toe it would not be a big deal. This is great with Hubby's socks, because he keeps asking for really long socks, so having a different color toe allows me to not worry too much about running out of yarn. His tan socks have lime green toes, and his Big Black Socks (BBS) will have yellow toes. He picked that one out himself.

On with the socks. This is the cuff of my Charade sock. It is a 2 x 2 twisted rib which just refers to how I make the stitches. I made the cuff 1.5 inches long.

Next I worked the leg. For this sock, and most of my long socks, my leg and cuff length measures 6 inches total. On my rambler sock, partly because I have some extra yarn from Mom, and partly because it is so stretchy, I may go ahead and make that total length 7 inches. Only time will tell. After I get the length that I want, it is time for the heel flap. That is not the only way to make socks, but is how I am making this pair. The heel flap is just what it sounds like. It is a square flap of fabric that goes on the back of the heel. This sock, I am challenging myself and trying a new to me heel. This one uses a stitch pattern called the Eye of Partridge. It really compliments itself nicely to the herringbone pattern of the leg.

This is what the sock looks like at this point. A big leg and cuff, with a square at the back of the heel.

Then comes time to do the heel turn. It is a series of partial row (aka short row) stitches that take a flat piece of knitting, and put a curve into it. This curves the sock under the heel.

After that, you have to join the heel back up with the rest of the sock. You can kind of see the triangle space that is just plain knitting. This is called the gusset. (sorry about the slightly out of focus, I am still playing with the camera and taking pictures of knitting - totally different than pictures of people)
After the gusset is complete, you are down to doing the foot. This is a big tube similar to the leg of the sock. Once you get it to about 1.5-2 inches from the total length you need for the foot, you begin forming the toe. As you can see, I just finished the gusset, and I haven't gotten to the toe yet. I will show you that once I have this sock finished. Then, you just have to do it all over again to make the second sock.

In case you are wondering, all the purple cording hanging around is really my cable to my needles. I like to do my socks on 2 circular needles. The other way to do it is on 4 or 5 double pointed needles (dpn's). I am trying that on the Hubby's BBS, but for portability and dealing with the kids, I find the 2 circulars easier, and less likely to lose stitches. Also, you may see pictures with this hanging thing, that is just my row counter to make sure I am doing the correct amount of rows.

That is the anatomy of a sock!