After a big push the last two evenings on the Wildfoote socks, I’ve managed to finish the gusset increases. I’ve turned one heel, and I’m about 1/2 way done with the other heel. If all goes as planned, I should be into the ankles by this evening.

I have to admit that I really like Queen Kahuna’s “no-wrap, no gap” heels. Even after reading through that section of Crazy Toes And Heels a couple of times first, I wasn’t sure exactly how it was going to work. But, thanks to Mary Ann Beattie’s
step-by-step instructions and great pictures, I made it through with flying colors! (pun intended) There really are no gaps! And the socks fit very well.

I did add a couple of my own innovations (you knew I would, right?). I followed Mary Ann’s suggestion to use a slip-stitch pattern for the last few rows under the heels before doing the turn, but I used an eye of partridge stitch instead of heel stitch. I am using heel stitch on the flaps. On the next pair of socks, I think I’ll use eye of partridge all the way up.

On the first heel I followed Mary Ann’s instructions and added about a gazillion markers into each row as I turned the heels. On the second sock, I used only four markers: two where the gusset stitches meet the heel (these were added in when the gusset stitches were started) and two at each end of the “live” stitches. The last two I moved each row as necessary to mark the correct place. That worked better for me. Using eye of partridge on the bottom meant that every heel-flap row started with a slip stitch, so using different colored markers to indicate whether to start with a knit or a slip wasn’t really necessary.

For the next pair of socks (the ones for #1 Son), I plan on using Mary Ann’s toe as well.