Don't Gift Ugly Socks: How to Pick Up Heel Stitches Without Holes

Here's the uncomfortable truth about gift socks: nobody notices your perfect ribbing. They notice the heel.

It's the spot every sock knitter dreads. You pick up stitches along the heel flap, everything looks fine on the needles, and then the finished sock goes on a foot and there they are: a row of long, loose stitches running along the heel, looking like a line of little holes. On a gift. For someone you love.

So before you cast on this year's Christmas socks, let's fix that.

Why picked-up stitches look so sloppy

Stitches picked up along the edge of the heel flap tend to come out elongated. One or two wouldn't matter, but a whole row of them is the first thing your eye goes to.

The usual advice is to knit them through the back loop to make them smaller. Try it and you'll often find it makes them look even worse. So you go back afterwards and work mock stitches over them to tighten and neaten them up. That does work, if you know how, but it's extra work on every single heel.

My way keeps the picked-up stitches neat while you knit. No sewing, no weaving and no mock stitches afterwards. Neat and fast.

Watch: the no-holes heel

It's a short one. Watch it once, try it on your next heel, and you won't go back.

▸ REAL TALK This isn't only for socks. The same trick works anywhere you pick up and knit, so file it away for your next sweater too.

Four more tricks for socks worth gifting

The no-holes heel is also trick number one in my sock secrets video, along with four more I use on every pair:

1. The no-holes heel pick-up. The trick above, in case you skipped ahead.
2. The Finchley Graft. My easier-to-remember alternative to the Kitchener stitch for closing the toe. Jump straight to it at 1:43.
3. A cleaner SSK. Even neater than the "improved SSK", so the decreases on your gusset and toe look as tidy as the ones leaning the other way.
4. Ripping back without fear. A faster, cleaner way to rip back after a mistake, with no dropped stitches and no runaway ladders.
5. Fixing a cable mistake without frogging. Spotted a wrong cable turn rows later? Fix it without ripping back the whole thing.

Free ebook: 7 Mistakes That Ruin Your Cable Definition

If trick five made you think of every cable you've ever ripped back, you'll like my free ebook. It walks you through the most common mistakes that make cables look sloppy, and how to avoid them.

Get the free ebook here →

Ready to cast on?

Here are a few of my sock patterns that make lovely gifts:

• Himmel: cables inspired by himmeli, the Finnish straw Christmas decoration.
• Bluebell: structured cables in DK weight, so they knit up faster than fingering-weight socks.
• Welcome Home: cosy bulky house socks, the quickest gift on this list.

Or browse all my patterns.

Need a sock to practise on? The After Party Gals' Christmas Sock Mystery Knit-a-Long starts on 1 December, and it's free on Instagram.