Just start over where it says, “work across all heel sts, turn”; make the double st and do the whole thing all over again.

let me know how it turns out!

I don’t have a lot to go on as far as durability goes. I don’t wear hand-knit socks myself that much, but I do know that the ones I have sitting in the studio awaiting repair are both flap heels, and that’s where I have worn them out. That said, they are also two of the oldest pairs I have.

I think if you tend to wear commercial socks out at the heel, then that’s where your hand knit socks will wear out too. I have even considered that using a bulkier stitch for the heel flap, as I have done (such as “eye of partridge” which is that whole “slip 1, knit 1″ thing), may actually contribute MORE to wear on the heel flap. If it’s bulkier, it is going to rub more on your shoe, right? Well, maybe. Then again, there is more bulk to wear away before you have a hole. So who knows?

DH wears his socks out in the toe first, then on the soles. I’m not sure I’ve ever had to repair one of his heels — well, maybe once, but I’ve reknit plenty of toes!

Fixing socks — now that’s a subject for another blog post! But I can guarantee that a short row heel (of any style) is going to be easier to fix than a flap & gusset heel. Neither repair is exactly a breeze, though.

I’ve just finished one sock of a pair for Christmas gifts. As soon as I finish the pair, I’m going to try this. I really like the way your heel looks. My only concern about it is that it doesn’t look like it’s got the same sturdiness as the slip stitch heel flap. Do you find that to be so? If so, do you have a solution?

This technique works in either direction, top-down or toe-up.

When I talk about “doing the first half twice”, I mean to do the part twice where you are short-rowing “down”, i.e. the rows are getting shorter and shorter. (Just to be clear, there aren’t any increases or decreases on a short-row heel of any kind — the number of sts should stay the same throughout. The number of sts you work in a given row is what changes.)

So you work shorter and shorter rows, and at the point where you’ve gotten down to 1/3 of the total, you will work two rounds all around the sock, working up all your double sts. So you kind of have a clean slate at that point, and my “lazy” way is to just to do exactly the same thing again! i.e. work shorter and shorter rows — rather than the flip side, working longer and longer rows. trust me, it comes out to the same shape in the end! good luck!