Gusset or Strong Heel for Top Down Socks 

hello, is the fleegle heel the same as the strong heel? Tahnk you.

It's a nice alternative to a traditional flap and gusset. Something different and it's good to try new things.

This method is relatively new to me and I don't know why it's not more widely used in patterns. It fits most feet well and like you said, it's easy.

Sounds like an excuse to knit more socks. 😉

Here are my guesses. 1 - You chose to knit the wrong sock size. Generally, you want your finished sock (after blocking) to be 5-10% smaller than your foot measurements so it has negative ease and hugs your foot. 2 - Your gauge is not the same as the pattern gauge, so the sock you are knitting is not the same size as the designer's pattern. Or 3 - Everything is fine. There have been times that I have knit a sock that looks too big or too small and then when I'm done it fits just fine. Good luck!

It sure does. This video was designed especially to provide knitting support for the Sundog Socks pattern.

Interesting question! It's my opinion that the idea of a heel flap being hard wearing is a bit of a myth. Think about your non-handknit socks. Have you ever worn a hole through the back of the heel? I suppose it's possible, but it's never happened to me. As far as the bottom of the heel, I think this construction is just as sturdy as a flap and gusset heel.

If I remember correctly, I used 2.5 mm needles that were 20 inches long.

Great question, Sharon! The sts being lifted are actually in the same round. Think of the rounds of sts as generations. The round of new sts you are forming are the child sts, you are knitting into the parent sts and the round below that is the grandparents. For the first increase, the child hasn't been formed yet, the parent is at the tip of the left needle, and I pick up the right leg of the grandparent. For the second increase, the child st is at the tip of the right needle, with the parent below it, and I pick up the left leg of the grandparent. Whenever I'm doing lifted increases, I remember to always give my grandparents a lift. 😉

The needles are addi Rocket Squared. They are ergonomic, rounded-square needles. The texturing prevents your stitches from slipping around and helps create very evenly spaced and sized stitches. Have you ever tried short row sock heels? They produce a lot less fabric where the ankle transitions to the foot. You may like the fit better.

The Chilly Dog Thanks, I’ll give those heels a try!

Search for "Clover Quick Locking Stitch Markers". They're available at many local yarn shops as well as online.

Hi Joy! Using kfb will give you a slightly different looking gusset line on the sides, but consider it your personal design choice. As far as the math, the overall shaping will be the same, so you should be fine.

Thank you for the reply. 😊 I hope it doesn’t look ugly. Is there another increase that doesn’t require picking up stitches?

Yarn overs, but they would create noticable eyelets. You could try to knit and purl or purl and knit the same stitch, but those may look odd.

Maybe I should just learn how to do the lifted increase properly! 😝 Thank you for replying. Stay safe!

@@thechillydog what if you use YO increase and then knit through back loop on the knit round? Would that still create an eyelet?

The minus 4 isn't related to gauge, it's related to how many stitches away from the center of the heel you plan to begin the turn heel shaping. When the turn heel shaping starts one stitch away from the center, you need to make gusset increases until you double the number of heel sts minus 4. If you want to start the heel shaping at the center of the heel then you need to make gusset increases until you double the number of heel sts minus 2.

@@thechillydog Thank you very much! very clear!

Is it the same process if you want to make the heel wider? Say 8 stitches before decreases start.

Great question. It does add length to the instep (top of the foot) of the sock. I just did a video that compares this heel shaping method to two others, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RbN23y-d220.html, if you'd like to see how different heels change the fit of a sock.

As is, I think this method gives a good fit for people with an average to high instep. There is slightly more diagonal heel circumference than the standard flap and gusset and the sock has a much more anatomical shape. I've never worked out the math for making modifications, but I'm pretty sure you would need to knit the heel across more than half of the sock sts, not just knit extra gusset increase rounds.

Thank youl.

I'm always on the look out for new-to-me heel constructions. 😉

For a top down sock with this style of heel, the gusset is started when you finish knitting the leg of your sock. In this case it's not so much a calculation, but a personal preference for how tall (knee high, mid-calf, ankle...) you want your socks to be.

You can check out this video for a toe up version of the flap-less gusset heel, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-drW7rl0_tbA.html.

You can make gusset heels from the toe up. The overall knitting process is the same, but the turn heel for the toe-up version is at the back of the leg instead of the bottom of the foot.

Yes, gusset heels can be worked top down or toe up. Although I generally don't go into the lore of how people's names/brands get attached to general techniques, in this case, Gerdine Crawford-Strong's name is often associated with the top down version of a gusset heel and Susan Glinert Stevens' website name "Fleegle" is associated with the toe up version. As far as the increase, it's just how the increases in my pattern were defined.

@@thechillydog thankyou!

Sort of. Knitters like to attach their own names to everything, so when this style of heel is worked from the top down it's called a Strong heel (after Gerdine Crawford-Strong) and when it's worked from the toe up it's a Fleegle heel (after Susan Glinert Stevens' blog).