Picking Up Stitches along a Slipped Stitch Heel

Working a heel flap and heel turn is a popular way of creating the heel portion of a knitted sock. If this method is used in your sock knitting, you’ll need to know how to pick up and knit the stitches along the heel flap. In this video, Corrina Ferguson shows you just how simple it is to work this step in your sock pattern.

Corrina is using double-pointed needles (dpns) in her demonstration, but the process will be similar if you’re knitting your sock on two circular needles or using the magic loop method. She picks up and knits the slipped stitches along the first half of the heel flap by inserting the knitting needle under both bars of the slipped stitch. The yarn is wrapped around the needle and pulled through to create a knit stitch. This process is repeated in each slipped stitch along the side of the heel flap. Once all the stitches are picked up along the side, Corrina suggest picking up and knitting one additional stitch in the “gap” where the slipped stitch edge meets the stitches for the top of the sock. By picking up and knitting an additional stitch in this spot, you’ll close the gap and have a stronger sock.

The stitches are then knit across the top of the sock and the stitches on the other side of heel flap are ready to be picked up and knit. Corrina begins the second half by picking up and knitting a stitch in the gap and then works her way down the heel flap in the same manner as the first half of the flap. Once complete, she rearranges the stitches so that she is ready to work the next step of her sock.