Sock problem

Sknitter56 · 04-25-2009, 02:47 PM

Hi everybody...I've knitted socks before, but I'm doing my first pair using Magic Loop and I'm stuck and confused. I've knitted my cuff and leg, knit my heel flap and turned the heel on the stitches that were on one of my needles (half of the total number of stitches), now I've knitted across those stitches, picked up down the side of the heel flap...then I knit the 30 stitches in pattern, and picked up on the other side of the heel flap (I picked up 14 stitches on each side of the flap for a total of 28 additional stitches).
Now comes my problem. Where do I go from here? I know I have to reduce back down to the original 30 on that needle, but it seems my working yarn is in the wrong place to get started. Up until this point, my working yarn was on my back needle, now it's on my front needle. I don't have any instructions, just winging it. Did I do something wrong? Here's what I've got so far:

dustinac · 04-26-2009, 09:27 PM

hrmm I'm not sure, you should end in the middle of the heel flap...I know sometimes with magic loop socks like that the st can move fast on you, maybe some of your picked up sts are on the front needle? Have you already worked one guesset decrease?

I took pictures not to long ago of a sock I was working on like this and posted them on my blog, I'm not sure if they will help you but they might

labeelady · 04-26-2009, 09:41 PM

It looks okay except for the sequence you knitted the parts.

After picking up the first side of the heel flap, you then knit across your instep stitches in pattern. Then pick up and knit the other side of the flap using the right needle. You will need to pull up a small loop to keep the instep stitches separate from the heel. Once you have picked up the required no. of stitches, knit across the heel flap stitches, then across the first side stitches. Your working yarn should now be in the proper location. You will be decreasing on each end of the heel stitches every other round until you reach the desired no. of stitches.

Sknitter56 · 04-27-2009, 01:04 AM

Thanks, Dustinac and Labeelady...
What I did was pick up the stitches on one side of the heel flap, then worked across the pattern stitches, then picked up on the other side of the heel flap. That's where I started having trouble. The pictures I posted were after I moved all of my picked up stitches and heel stitches to one needle and left just the pattern stitches on the other needle, but that made my working yarn not in the right place. Since I posted my question, I decided to switch to my dpns and just finish with them instead of trying to make the Magic Loop work. I must have done something wrong somewhere...who knows...but I'll try again with the other sock and see if I can do it right.

Is there a trick with magic loop when you get to part with the pick-up stitches?

Sknitter56 · 04-27-2009, 01:15 AM

Dustinac..I just looked at your blog about how to do the pick-up/gusset with ML....that helped a lot! I've bookmarked it so when I start on the second sock, I'll do what you did. I sorta kinda did that, but got all twisted up somehow.
Thanks, bunches!

labeelady · 04-27-2009, 01:54 AM

When you say "pick up" stitches, did you pick up and knit them or just pick them up?

dustinac · 04-27-2009, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by labeelady

When you say "pick up" stitches, did you pick up and knit them or just pick them up?

I'm thinking the same thing...Amy's videos shows in the working heel of sock how to pick up the sts...

I'm glad the pictures helped

Sknitter56 · 04-28-2009, 12:44 AM

I say "pick-up", but I pick-up and knit them. I just couldn't get ML to work from that point on. Hopefully the second sock will work out better. I'm going to go by Dustinac's blog pics and maybe I'll have better luck.

Thank you all so much