The Double-Stitch Short Row Heel – aka the “yo-yo” or “jo-jo” heel

So — a few weeks ago, I wrote about sock heels.  How I don’t really like flap-and-gusset style heels, and how the EZ afterthought heel usually seems too small for me, and how I’d been checking out all kinds of short row heels, in my search for the Best Short Row Heel of All Time.

I did knit an awful lot of sock heels (some of them truly awful).

And then… I found The One.

This particular heel style seems to be (1) not very common, and (2) decidedly German in its heritage.  I’ve only found it online a couple of places:  one mention of it on an native Austrian knitter’s blog, and instructions for it on the Lana Grossa site (which seems to be down for the count these days).  In print, so far I’ve found it only in a Regia pamphlet.

This is a shame, I think, because this heel has a lot of positive qualities.  It’s easy to do, once you know what it is you’re supposed to do.  It makes a darned nice heel, IMHO.  It is not prone to gaps, nor does it require weird backwards YO’s, nor does it have odd-looking decreases up the sides.  The whole wrap & turn thing?  Forget it.  And the inside looks practically as nice as the outside.

And, it adds one more thing to EZ’s famous list of “things you can do wrong when you’re learning to knit that turn into a technique later on.”  You know how beginners sometimes take the yarn the wrong way over the top of the needle when they are starting a row?  Guess what?  There’s a use for that.  Trust ingenious German engineering to come up with one.

All that — plus the fact that I can’t quite wrap my head around what exactly is going on with the short row turns — just fascinates me.  I’ll get it figured out someday, but for now, I’m content to just be impressed.

In fact, the only thing I don’t like about this heel is… the name.  Yup, once again, I have a nomenclature problem.

It’s called the Yo-yo heel, or sometimes, and even more incomprehensibly, the Jo-jo heel.  I think both of those sound, well, stupid.  (And there aren’t any “YO’s” in it, anyway.  Let alone whatever a “JO” is, or might be.)

So, following in the great historical tradition of knitters calling things by different names, I have decided to call it the Double-Stitch Short Row Heel.  And here’s how to do it —

Please bear in mind that the light orange example shown in these pictures is knit at a much looser gauge than usually used for socks — mainly because I used my size 9 ebony needles, in order to clearly show what’s going on.  Thus the finished example heel may look kind of loose and hole-y — but at sock gauge, it’s marvelous.  Would I lie to you?  About knitting?

---

Double-Stitch Short Row Heel — First half

K across all heel sts, turn.

First WS row:

• Hold yarn to front, slip next st pwise.
• Take working yarn to back over RH needle; then take working yarn to front between needles, pulling snugly so that the slipped st falls to the back, and the stitch in the row below is pulled up over the RH needle – WS double st made.

 

• Keep the working yarn to the left of the slipped st as you bring it over the RH needle, so the st that is pulled up from below IS NOT twisted.
• P back across rem heel sts, turn.

First RS row:

• Hold yarn to front, slip next st pwise.
• Take working yarn to back over RH needle; pull working yarn snugly to back, so the slipped st falls to the back and the stitch in the row below is pulled up over the RH needle – RS double st made.

• Keep the working yarn to the left of the slipped st as you bring it over the RH needle, so the st that is pulled up from below IS twisted.
• K heel sts up to, but not including, the double stitch from the previous row.

** Next WS row:  Make WS double st; then P all the normal sts up to, but not including, the double st(s) previously made. Turn.

Next RS row:  Make RS double st; then K all the normal sts up to, but not including, the double st(s) previously made. Turn. **

Continue to repeat last 2 rows (between **), making double sts at beg of each short row, until your heel is divided almost into thirds: 

• one third double sts on the left,
• one third plain sts in the middle + 1 extra st,
• one third double sts on the right, except 1 st short.

You should be about to work a RS row — which will take one more plain st from the middle and turn it into a double st.  Then everything will be nice and tidy.

Last RS row:  Make RS double st; then K all the normal sts across the middle of the heel up to the double sts.

Continue to knit across left side of heel, working the double sts by inserting the RH needle under both forward strands of the double st, and knitting as if for a k2tog. (Be careful to pick up both strands, and only the front strands.)

Continue working around whole sock now, across instep sts.  Knit the double sts on the right side of heel in the same manner.  Work around most of the sock a second time, across the instep sts, and stopping when you are about to work the heel sts again.

Second half of heel

K across 2/3 of the heel sts, turn.

First WS row:  Make WS double st, P back [one third of the heel sts, minus the one you slipped], turn.

For example, on a 36 st heel: 

First, knit across 2/3 of the sts = 24 sts.  Leave 12 sts of the heel unworked on left side.

Turn and use 1 st to make the WS double st, then purl back over

(1/3 of the heel sts – 1)  = (12 sts -1) = 11 sts.

Now 12 sts on the right side of the heel also rem unworked.  Turn.

** Next RS row:  Make RS double st, K to double st of prev row, K the double st, K1, turn.

Next WS row:  Make WS double st, P to double st of prev row, P the double st, P1, turn. **

Continue to repeat last 2 rows (between **), until you have purled the last st of the right side of the heel on your last WS row.

Last RS row:  Make RS double st, K to double st at end of heel, K the double st.  Heel is complete.  Continue working around sock.  One double st will rem at the beg of the heel, which will be worked on the next round.

Nice, eh?

---