HELP WITH THE SHORT ROW HEEL: I had an issue following the pattern, and in searching for help with it found a lot of others with the same problem. Someone wrote a forum post about it and Annie’s Woolens helpfully replied.

This is the issue:

It tells you to turn the work. Then:

Row 2: With purl side facing, YO. Purl across heel sts. Turn.

Row 3: With knit side facing, YO, Knit 24 sts. (2 sts. remain unworked) Turn.

Now, here’s my problem. That’s 26 stitches. Row 2, you add a YO, so there’s now 27 stitches. Row 3, you add that YO, then of the 27 stitches from the previous row, you knit 24. That leaves THREE sts unworked, not 2 - 2 regular stitches plus the YO from the start of row 2.

And here’s the response from Annie’s Woolens:

…here is the solution to your short row heel problem: the key lies in the notes section before starting the heel

So… On Row 2, you will YO as described in the notes section ending with 27 sts. Row 3: with knit side facing, YO (that means you bring the yarn toward you, wrap over the top of the needle AND knit the first stitch of the row - you have now used up the FIRST stitch of the row which leaves 26 sts. remaining), knit the next 24 sts. leaving 2 sts. remaining unworked. Continue in this manner for the completion of the heel and you will be doing the same thing for the toe.

In summary, YO does not just mean wrapping the yarn around the needle. It also means knitting the FIRST stitch of the row.

While it IS noted in the “notes” section, it’s rather unclear what they actually mean--as evidenced by the number of people having problems with it. It’s further complicated by the fact that “YO” is used elsewhere to refer only to the new stitch created by wrapping the yarn on the previous row (“slip YO purlwise” etc--if a “YO” is actually the loop PLUS the first stitch, you’d be slipping two, but you’re not).

The easiest way for me to deal with it was to use a more standard definition of YO in my head and add 1 to all of the numbers given. So, for example:

Row 3: With knit side facing, YO, Knit 24 sts. (2 sts. remain unworked) Turn.

Yarn over (physically wrap the yarn around, in the way the pattern states), then knit 25. This will actually give you 2 stitches unworked. Or, on a decrease row:

Row 5: YO. Knit 13 sts. SSSK. Turn.

Yarn over/wrap yarn, complete 14 knit stitches, sssk, turn.

It worked out for this stocking and the heel was an absolute cinch to do once I got past this little weirdness. Then, months later, I started my son’s stocking (the Annie’s Woolens “bear” pattern) and, having forgotten how I did it the first time, I ran into the same issue again, leading to another search for an answer… So I’m leaving it here for future reference! Hopefully it helps someone.

I used smaller needles (5 & 7 instead of 6 & 8) just because that’s what I had on hand at the time. Worked fine. I don’t think I’d want it to be much bigger than it is.