Koigu KPPPM 706

Ah. This is Koigu KPPPM in my favourite colourway - 706. This is the one I've always called 'Monet' because the dots of all the colours remind me of a Monet painting.

This pair is size Small Narrow. I knit it with the 54 cylinder and 27 ribber on the Legare 400. I started with a reverse e-wrap selvedge and 1 x 1 ribbed top, switching to a 5 x 1 rib for the leg and instep.

When I'm knitting a heel (or toe) I don't like to have a rib stitch or any other variable stitch at the apex of where the increases/decreases adjoin the body of the sock. This, to me, is an invitation to one of the notorious 'heel holes' that can accompany a short row heel. Short version - I like to ensure that the first stitch beyond my heel working stitches is a stockinette stitch, on both sides.

With the 72 cylinder and 36 ribber the math works out for this to happen in a 3 x 1 rib with no extra fiddling about. But on the 54/27 combination, the math doesn't play nice - what works out on the right side will dictate that it will not work out evenly on the left side (or vice versa).

So what I did - after my 1 x 1 topper I switched to 5 x 1 with the right side being set up correctly for the heel, but the left side having a rib stitch instead of stockinette stitch on the first needle beyond what will be my working heel needles. I knit my leg rows, and at the pre-heel I switch out the rib stitches above the heel as normal.

But when I get to the heel and raise the needles for my short rows, I switch out that pesky little rib needle to a cylinder needle. Problem solved.

So on the pre-heel area of the sock I have 5 rib stitches in total, and then on the foot, I have 4, having switched that last one out.