Heel Flap & Gusset

Recently, someone on Instagram asked me if I could tell them how to swap in a contrast heel flap and gusset into a sock pattern. I ended up writing a step-by-step guide for them in my notes app and thought it would be nice to share here for anyone who wants to use it!

I’m a pretty lazy teacher so there are no pictures, but I tried to make the explanation as easy to understand as possible. The idea with this one is that you can swap it into any sock pattern (with a very minimal amount of mathing required).

Contrast Heel Flap & Gusset

Knit across instep, drop MC (don’t cut)

Heel Flap:

With CC-

*K1, Sl1wyib, repeat from * to end

P across to last stitch, Sl1wyif

Repeat these two rows until your heel flap is around 2” (try on and it should go from the top of your heel/align with ankle bone, to the bottom of your heel)

Turn the Heel:

This will depend on the number of stitches you’re using, but general rule of thumb is to divide your stitches into 3rds. I had a 60 stitch sock, so my heel flap was 30 total. I wanted my heel a little narrower so instead of 10/10/10 for the heel turn I did 12/6/12. (For the next step we’ll call it a/b/c)

Row 1- Knit across a+b then ssk, k1, turn.

Row 2- Sl1wyif, purl back across b (stop when you have c stitches on your left needle) then p2tog, p1, turn.

Row 3- Sl1wyib, knit across to one stitch before the gap and ssk, k1, turn.

Row 4- Sl1wyif, purl to one stitch before the gap, p2tog, p1, turn.

Repeat rows 3 and 4 until you have worked all the stitches. Your heel stitch count should = a+b. Break CC.

Gusset Set-up:

Pick up MC where it is still attached. You can place a marker here, or if you’re using magic loop just keep all the following heel stitches on one needle. PU and knit along the side of the heel flap. There should be a nice edge to pick up from. The # you pick up will depend on how long your heel flap is, but for mine it was 18. This number doesn’t really matter, but just make sure you pick up the same number on each side. To minimize holes in your heels you can pick up the first stitch in the gap where you started your heel.

After you pick up the first side of the heel flap, knit across the heel stitches, then PU and knit the other side of the heel flap. Again, you can pick up in the gap at the end of this section to minimize holes.  

Gusset Decreases:

You can place a marker at the BOR and at the side of the instep (you may have already placed one here when you began the gusset set-up). The instep stitches between your BOR and side markers should equal half of your total sock stitches from cast on, and will be knit in whatever pattern you’re using. No gusset decreases are made in the instep.

Round 1- Knit across the instep to side marker, k1, ssk, knit across heel stitches to last 3 stitches of the round, k2tog, k1.

Round 2- Knit all stitches 

Repeat these two rounds until your heel stitch count is back to your starting # (i.e. 1/2 the total sock stitches you started with). If you have an odd number of stitches for your heel, you will need to do one extra round with just 1 of the decreases (ssk or k2tog), it doesn’t matter which side you do it on.

Key: BOR, Beginning of Round; K, knit; P, purl; sl1wyif, slip 1 with yarn in front; sl1wyib, slip 1 with yarn in back; p2tog, purl 2 together; k2tog, knit 2 together; sl1, slip 1; SSK, slip slip knit, MC, main color; CC, contrast color

Hope that helps!