Dec 26, 2021.

This is my 4th sock from Weldon’s Practical Stocking knitter. See here for a brief description and some useful links.

LTCO 60 sts. Used US#2 for just the cast on. Worked the rest of the sock on US#1.5 needles. Want it to fit a US size 7 foot.

Only the toe (French Toe) is from Weldon’s Practical Knitting magazine. Not the heel.

Half Handkerchief Heel
I am doing a cuff down version. This is also called a V-Heel and a Flat-Iron Heel. I guess the latter name is because the heel turn looks like the front half of a clothes iron.
A description of this heel is available on page 60 of Nancy Bush’s Folk Socks book. A Half Handkerchief heel uses the same essential technique as a French/Round heel. You start the heel turn exactly at the midpoint of the heel flap. Therefore, it’s narrower than the French (Round) Heel or the Modified French (Rounder) Heel.

I found this Heels by Number article by Criminy Jickets to be most useful.

Heel Flap:
Knit the heel flap over 1/2 the total number of sts, in my case 30 sts.
Set up row 1: k15, turn.
Set up row 2: sl1, p29, turn.
Row 3: sl1, k to the end.
Row 4: sl1, p to the end.
Repeat Rows 3 and 4 for a total of 14 more times. 14 side selvedge sts created.

Turn Heel:
Row 1: sl1, k14, (you are at the middle of the heel flap), pm, ssk, k1, turn.
Row 2: sl1, p2tog, p1, turn.
Row 3: sl1, k to 1 st before gap, ssk (one st on each side of the gap), k1, turn.
Row 4: sl1, p to 1 st before gap, p2tog (one st on each side of the gap), p1, turn.
Repeat Rows 3 and 4 until all sts are worked, ending with a WS row.

Gusset:
RS Row 1: Knit to the middle of the row. This is needle 4. Start a new needle. Call it Needle 1. Knit the remaining sts. Pick up and knit 16 sts along the side. Knit the instep sts on Needles 2 and 3 (two needles with instep sts). Next pick up another 16 sts on the side and knit the remaining sts on the 4th needle.

Reduce sts as follows:
N1: knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1.
Knit sts on N2 and N3.
N4: k1, ssk, k to the end.
Reduce on alternate rows until you get to 60 sts again.

The socks are meant for a US size 7 feet.

French Toe
Roxanne Richardson’s video on French Toes. This is one of the toes described in Weldon’s Practical Knitting Series 1. I worked an SSK instead of the sl1, k1, psso suggested in Weldon’s.

The toe starts at the middle of the instep. Divide sts equally over 3 dpns.
Row 1: Over needle 1 work k1, ssk, knit to 3 sts before the end, k2tog, k1. Do this again for the remaining 2 needles. 6 sts rediuced.
Row 2. Knit.
Repeat these 2 rows until 12 sts remain.
The 7:34 min mark of this Roxanne Richardson video has a very useful tip on how to quickly transfer the last 12 stitches for grafting. Kitchener graft to close.

I usually graft with the technique presented in this Suzanne Bryan video. For this sock, I tried a slightly different method presented in this Roxanne Richardson video.
After arranging the sts for grafting, do this on each needle:
sl1 k-wise, sl1 p-wise, pass the first slipped st over the 2nd. Slip the next 2 sts. Now 2 sts remain. Pass the last (6th) st over the st before (5th st).

Unblocked
Heel to beginning of toe: 6.75”
Cuff to beginning of heel: 5.75”
Circumference: 7.5”

Measurements after blocking:
Cuff to beginning of heel flap: 15cm
Cuff to bottom of the heel: 21cm
Back of the heel to the tip of the toe: 20.7m
Ankle (diagonal): 12.8cm; 12cm
Width-leg: 10cm
Width-ball of the foot: 9.5cm

I could have added an inch to the cuff length without running out of yarn.