August 21, 2022: This is a sock with a Manufacturer’s Heel and a Wedge Toe. It is described in Weldon’s Practical Stocking knitter. See here for a brief description and some useful links.

The most basic heel in Weldon’s is a Common Heel or a Square Heel. These days a Dutch heel is called a Square heel but apparently not back then. The common heel looks too square for my taste and I so I decided not to make it. I am going to make the Manufacturer’s Heel, which I believe is also called a Shaped Common Heel. This heel follows the same method as the common heel but has some decreases (shaping) at the bottom of the heel to make it fit better.

Weldon’s Common Heel - Also called the Square Heel is knit as follows:
The heel flap is knit back and forth, as usual, on half (X/2) of the sts for a length of 3”. Cast off the flap sts. Fold in half and sew the cast of edges together. Of course, these days we would just do a Kitchener close. Next, for the gusset, pick up (and knit) the side slip sts on either side of the heel on two separate needles. The instep sts (X/2) are held on a third needle. Regulate the pick up so that you end up with X+8 sts in total. Knit one plain round to set the gusset. Then reduce sts as on a regular gusset (ssk at the beg of the first heel needle and k2tog k1 at the end of the 2nd heel needle) on alternate rows. This reduces additional 8 sts picked up. That’s it!

Manufacturer’s Heel also called the Shaped Common Heel is worked as follows, (directions from
Weldon’s Practical Stocking Knitter First Series.
Work the heel flap as above for as many rows as sts. If even number of sts, place a marker at the midpoint (between 2 sts) of the heel flap. If odd number of sts, mark the (X/4 + 1)th st as the seam st. Next you have to do some shaping (decreases) around the marker. Reduce 8 sts over 16 rounds around the marker by doing an SSK before the marker (or seam st) and a K2tog right after the marker. The alternate rows are just knit plain. Then fold and Kitchener close. Do the gusset the same way as in the the Common Heel described earlier.

Modified Shaped Common Heel - Look up page 26 of Lara Neel’s book, Sock Architecture. It is Lara Neel’s take on the Shaped Common Heel, modified by adding a tiny gusset.

My Sock
For the Manufacturer’s Heel (or Shaped Common Heel) I have chosen to do Uncommon Dragon by Lara Neel.

My Notes
GTCO 72 sts.
Cuff - 18 rows k1p1 followed by one row of stockinette with 2.25mm needles. Change to 2.5mm needles and begin pattern for the leg. Despite the larger needle size, the sock fits well because the lace pattern has no “give”.

I did 6.5 pattern repeats for the leg (52 rows). I stopped at 6.5 instead of 7 because I wanted the heel flap to finish with the last row of the pattern instead of stopping mid-way.

Heel Flap - The two set up rows and the first set of Rows 1 and 2 add 4 more rows. That makes 1/2 a pattern repeat. Working Rows 1 and 2 twelve more times will add 3 more pattern repeats.

Toe - Sept 10, 2022: I worked Lara Neel’s Swirl Toe (a version of a Round Toe) from start to finish on one sock. While I loved the look when the sock is not worn, I did not like how it looked when I wore the sock. So, I frogged it and made a regular wedge toe. Alt row dec until half the sts (44 sts) remain and every row dec until 12 sts remain, Kitchener close.

Comments - Before wet blocking the pair has a snug fit on my 8-5/8”, 22cm circumference foot. After wet blocking the socks fit quite well. The fabric is not too elastic. Therefore the fit is not as perfect as a ribbed or all-stockinette sock. On the other hand, using 2.5mm needles made the fabric is bit too airy imo. It may have been better to CO 76sts and used 2.25mm needles for the body. But overall I’m VERY happy with these socks!

Youtube video about different heels by Heather Sorta

Measurements after blocking:
Cuff to beginning of heel flap: 13.2cm
Cuff to bottom of the heel: 28.5cm
Back of the heel to the tip of the toe: 23.2cm
Ankle (diagonal): 12.3cm
Width-leg: 9cm
Width-ball of the foot: 9cm