Shadow Short-Row
Since I knit a lot of socks both by hand or on my CSM, I am always looking for new ways to do short-rows. Enter, the shadow short-row.
Specifically the Shadow Short-Row Heel
And even more specifically, the modified version of that heel.
This new (to me) short-row technique is basically a slightly different method of making the turning stitch at the end of each shortened row. Before turning the work at the end of a short-row, this technique has you add a stitch by knitting (or purling) into the center of the stitch below and slipping the new stitch to the left-hand needle before turning your work. And you end up resolving these twin-stitches by knitting them together. That’s the basic idea of the shadow version of the short-row. The video linked above adds a twist to this idea to decrease the dreaded gap at the beginning and end of your short-row sections.
I definitely like learning a new technique. I’m not sure if it’s much better (or at all better) than a standard wrap-and-turn short-row. It looks nice, but I’ll have to see how it looks and feels after I get to wear this pair of socks before I know if I like it any better.
Readers’ Comments/Questions
Fred writes:
“Why, oh, why did I not receive this post on Monday? I only found it by clicking on the archive icon today, Wednesday. This is the second time this has happened in a couple of weeks. The post doesn’t appear in my Spam box either, just not at all. Any thoughts, Joe?”
There seems to be an issue with the company that automates emails to blog subscribers (MailChimp). They didn’t generate an email for those two blog entries that you noted in your comment.
Here’s the short solution to your question. Change the method by which you get notified by completing this form (you won’t get the feature photo in the e-mail, but it always notifies you immediately when a blog post is published.
This method uses my WordPress software to subscribe you as a newsletter. The method you currently use is MailChimp, which is supposed to be triggered at 11:00 am (Eastern time) to look for any new blog entries and send out an email. Not sure why MailChimp has been hiccuping in the past couple of weeks.
Current Knitting
Clearly, I’ve made it past turning the heel on the first helical-striped sock.
Regardless of the heel, I am liking this sock very much so far.
Since I had to focus a bit on the heel part of the sock, I didn’t get a whole lot finished on the back section of the all-over patterned pullover.
I was able to almost finish the second motif. I should get a chance to focus a little more on it this weekend.
The “Fish Lips Kiss Heel” uses shadow wraps construction, but it makes the twin stitches differently. I’ll have to give this a try. Thanks for sharing it, Joe.
This short row technique is similar but not just like Cat Bhordi’s Sweet Tomato Heel technique – knitting in the row below and the next stitch together to shorten the gap. (Also, Cat’s heel has three wedges.) I Love the Sweet Tomato heel 🙂
PS: Your socks are looking good.
Thank you, Joe, for taking the time to address my MailChimp issue! I followed your suggestion and have received confirmation from WordPress. Cheers, as always, to you.