Briggs & Little Fine Socks Pattern Heel Help!

[Thestrel]

I'm working on my first pair of socks, using the Briggs and Little Fine Socks (#104) pattern. I'm doing the child's small (cast on 48 sts over 3 DPNs 15, 18, 15) and am doing it Magic Loop.

I'm about to start the heel and the directions have me confused and the math seems off. The portion I have issue with is:

Knit 11 sts from 1st needle. Slip remaining 4 sts onto 2nd needle and sl first 4 sts from 3rd needle onto 2nd needle. 26 sts on 2nd needle.

No matter how I work that, it doesn't come out to 26! I know the needle numbers are a bit pointless considering I'm MLing but that is driving me a bit bonkers. :teehee:

Also, is there any reason to attempt to do the knitting and slipping to get the stitches to one needle to work the heel or can I just move 2 of my stitches to one of the needles and start the 2 repeating rows for the heel? And should I work the heel on the needle that has the working yarn or the other needle?

Sorry for all the questions and thank you all so much for the help! :muah:

[imrachel]

It actually does work, if you're using 3 dpns-- but not sure about what to say about Magic Loop. . .
Needle 1. 15
Needle 2. 18
Needle 3. 15

Take the last 4 sts from needle 1 and move them to needle 2. This will give you 11 sts (15 - 4 = 11) on needle 1 and 22 sts (18 + 4 = 22) on needle 2.
Then take the first 4 sts from needle 3 and move them to needle 2. This gives you 11 sts (15 - 4 = 11) on needle 4 and 26 sts (22 + 4 = 26) on needle 2.

Make sense now?