This totally makes me smile. Helping knitters and entertaining kitties. I love my job!

Left handers are awesome and you are certainly not an idiot! You may consider ditching the "left-handed", left to right, knitting. As you already know, it makes reading and understanding patterns nearly impossible. Knitting is a two handed activity like driving a car or rowing a boat. It frustrates me that knitting instructors continue to convince left handers they need to knit any differently than right handers because it's just not true and it makes learning a new skill much more difficult than it needs to be. If you'd ever like to chat about this or schedule a lesson, drop me an email. I'd love to help.💖

I guess I had never thought about that before! An afterthought heel would be the easiest style to replace when holes happen. You're clever!

What you mean by saying "If you get a hole in your sock heel, you can do another and have them look like new again". What "another" you're referring? Another hole...NO. Another heel... MAYBE. Could you please clarify this. Thank you!

@@Paudeli1 another heel

I never thought of that...so easy! love it! plus you don't HAVE to match the yarn! WOW!

I love those "Aha!" moments!

Perfect timing, then! I hope your heels work out beautifully. Happy knitting!

It's probably not the best for a high arch. You may be better off with a (flapless) gusset heel.

I've never heard of a flapless gusset heel. Thank you!!

@@kimmiemamatomany6226 depending on which direction your working from (top-down or toe-up) they are sometimes also known as Strong heels or Fleegle heels because knitters sometimes get their names attached to certain techniques.

Thank you. I think I've done a fleegal heel once.

Yes, you could use circular needles as well.

You might want to try a short row heel. The whole idea of an afterthought is to wait until the rest of the sock is knit before adding the heel.

@@thechillydog Yes but I think some knitters do the afterthought method without going back to do it, rather doing it as you are there at the heel somehow. I just can't wrap my head around how it's done. Your videos are so helpful and clear, I was just checking if this was something you had done, or thinking of doing? Thank you for sharing your expertise. :)

@@suemccord9723 I think there is a way to do what you're saying, but I don't know if it's something I'll ever make a video about. It's even more fussy than a typical afterthought heel. You would need to provisionally cast on sts at that heel so that one side of the provisional sts would be part of the heel and the other side would be for the back of the leg or bottom of the foot, depending on which direction you are knitting your sock. Then you would knit the heel and graft it shut. Finally, pick up the provisional sts and continue the sock. There's a lot of potential for tension issues with the provisionally cast on sts and it wouldn't reduce the likelihood of getting gaps/holes at the sides of the heel . But, I will add the idea to my topic list because maybe I'll discover some clever way to reduce the fuss.

@@thechillydog I'm thinking that rather than do a provisional cast on, either using a life line on the front of sock sts , or leave you needle there but use a second needle to work the heel, which could eliminate tension issues later. This would be using magic loop method. I have been searching for a video to show this and there are none I can find. The nice thing about doing it while you are at the heel would be the ease of trying it on for proper length of foot with no risk of possible wrong placement for size. Glad to hear it's on your topic list. Thank you, all your videos are so much appreciated. :)

It depends. If I'm decreasing strictly at the sides of the heel (not spacing decreases evenly across a round) I usually decrease every other rnd until 1/2 of the heel sts remain and then every rnd until 8-12 sts remain, but occasionally I prefer to just decrease every other rnd until 8-12 sts remain.

@@thechillydog Thank You!!

Theoretically yes, you could use a cable instead of a thin string lifeline. However, I suspect using a cable would cause a noticeable tension irregularity because of the diameter. Still, it could be worth a try to see if it's easier and you like the results.

It's probably not possible. Using a thin waste yarn or dental floss is necessary so the stitches aren't distorted and stretched out of shape. Using spare knitting needles as the lifelines would force the held stitches to be 2 needle diameters tall.

The Chilly Dog ??? Why???? only using one circular same size. Stitches would be held on the cord. The cord would act as your dental floss....

@@sandracasagrande3825 Personally, I would still be very leery of that method. The cord has a lot more thickness and rigidity than a thin piece of waste yarn. Stitches are bound to get stressed and stretched in unusual ways. (The thinner your sock yarn, the greater the effect.) Also the cord would skew/twist your stitches while you knit the rest of your sock. A thin piece of waste yarn is flexible and allows the stitches being held to lay flat in their natural position.

The Chilly Dog thankyou!

Hi, Louisa. It completely depends on my mood. If I am just knitting for fun (instead of developing a design or lesson) I enjoy knitting short row heels the most and usually favor either the Japanese/pinned method or the shadow wrapped method. As far as knitting needles for socks, it also depends on my mood. I learned to knit socks on bamboo dpns so they feel like going home to me. But I was pretty excited to start using the addi FlexiFlips when they came out a few years ago. However, lately I find myself knitting socks on 2 circs and really enjoy it.

Thank you

I'm really just using the cable needle so my stitches don't get scrunched up and you can clearly see what's happening and what landmarks to look for. In real life knitting, that's not being filmed for a knitting lesson, I would skip the cabe needle.

Thanks, Ellen, for the quick reply.

Unwaxed is probably best, but I have a tough time finding it at the store. I often use waxed mint and without problems. I don't think there's enough wax in the floss to cause any sort of damage to your fiber, but I also wouldn't leave a project with waxed floss in your car on a hot day or leave it in UFOs for extended periods.

I don't think so, but I have never tried. The problem with using a spare cord instead of a thin lifeline is that your stitches in those "held" rows would be elongated because of the cord diameter. I think the stitches would be noticeably larger.

Thanks for the support and happy knitting! 😘

Great question! I have never experienced a problem with any sort of residue. My guess is that there isn't enough wax on a short length to cause an issue and/or you'd need to heat things up for the wax to melt off. But clearly, I'm no expert on floss. (I didn't even know that dental floss and dental tape were two different things.) Happy knitting!

The Chilly Dog Perhaps you bout the one without wax.

I use oral B deep clean floss and it doesn’t leave a residue. It looks like the one being used in this video.

Ooo... that's a tricky one! One possible option would be to duplicate stitch over the waste yarn with the real yarn. (That's basically tracing over the path of the waste yarn with a yarn needle and your new yarn.) Another option would be to completely remove the waste yarn and graft the sock back together (aka Kitchener stitch). If you have lifelines all the way around, I would probably opt for the second solution.

I do have lifelines all the way around- I will try the Kitchener stitch. Thank u so much!

Of course! You can use whatever type of needle is your favorite for small circumference knitting.

It's usually just a matter of preference. Some knitters prefer knitting socks completely in the round and not fussing with flaps, short rows, turn heels, etc.

It can also be if you want contrast heels or to preserve the color striping. I like to use scrap yarn for heels when I don't have enough of the main skein.