Have you ever tried a short-row heel? It’s a very useful one to have in your sock knitting tool box! It shares a lot of handy properties with the afterthought heel: it’s worked the same no matter what direction you’re working your sock; it doesn’t require you to pick up stitches along a gusset (there isn’t one!); and, particularly pertinent for this month’s Confident Knitting pattern, you can work it without interrupting the sequence or width of a self-patterning yarn. Unlike the afterthought heel though, there’s no waste yarn (or snipping of stitches) required, and it’s shaped not with decreases, but with (as the name suggests!) two sets of short rows! It’s one of those really clever pieces of knitting that feels a bit magical the first time you do it!

September’s design, Jen’s Moorland Socks knit in Feet Firmly on the Ground, a special Fab Funky Fibres colourway developed for Confident Knitting!

For this month’s technique, Jen’s taken the short-row heel and given it a twist, of the garter stitch variety! Besides resulting in a squooshy little seat for your heel, garter stitch is particularly practical for a short-row heel.

First, it’s got more horizontal stretch than stocking stitch. This, combined with the formula Jen uses for calculating heel stitches, gives a bit more flexibility to the finished sock, helping to offset the lack of gusset.

Second, the garter stitch neatly hides your short-row wraps, eliminating the need to pick them up (which is, of course, the trickiest bit of a short-row manoeuvre).

Top Tip: For this month’s Moorland Socks, Jen’s used a complementary mini skein for her heels. If you choose to work your heels in the same yarn as the rest of your sock, we suggest working the heel with a separate length of yarn (you could pull from the other end of your ball). The yarn tails make it easier to close up any gaps that occur when you re-join to work in the round.

Now that’s enough chatting … let’s see how it’s done! (If you’re reading this through our email service, you can view the YouTube tutorial here.)

And as a reminder, this video has subtitles (click the “CC” in the bottom right to turn them on) as well as chapters for easy navigating. Hover your mouse over the time bar and you can jump to the bit you need — particularly helpful if you’re referring back to the video as you work your heel!

And of course, if you’d like to knit your own Moorland Socks, you can find the pattern and in-depth photo tutorial in Confident Knitting. And you’ll find this month’s short-row heel knitalong happening over in The Knitalong Hub. We’d love to see you there.