Jaywalker Socks with Afterthought Heel

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I used to be addicted to knitting Jaywalker socks as a fun way to show off self-striping yarn but I eventually got really annoyed with the interruption in the stripe pattern when I added the heel flap & gusset so I eventually abandoned Jaywalker as my go-to self-striping yarn pattern in favor of the Sock Surgeon’s Afterthought Heel method.  (You can see what I mean about the interrupted pattern in the photos in this post).

Anyway – I was wearing an old pair of Jaywalkers recently when it suddenly occurred to me that I could just modify the pattern to use an afterthought heel!  Duh.  I took this fantastic sock knitting class on Craftsy/Bluprint ages ago that shows you how to do all sorts of different heels and I had practiced all of them so I’m really surprised that I didn’t this of this before.  (BTW, Donna Druchunas is my hero!!)

Afterthought heels are super easy.  You just knit in a piece of scrap yarn where you want to insert the heel:

Then after you finish the rest of the sock, you go pick that yarn out and put the stitches back on your needles:

Then you just knit the heel exactly as you knit a toe!  Easy-peasy.

At the end of the day, these socks turned out pretty cool.  Next time I make them I think I’ll make the cuff a little longer.  Right now it’s about 3/4” of ribbing and I don’t like how it kind of zigzags on my leg.  I think if I made it longer it would look better.

yarn details
Knit Picks Felici in Mountain Stream
Fingering Weight
Dye Lot 46553
75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon
Machine wash/Tumble dry low
$5.49 per 50 g / 218 yd ball purchased November 2014 (it’s been lingering in my stash for a long time!)

project details
pattern: “Jaywalker” by Grumperina; available as a free Ravelry download!
needles: size 2 wood DPNs
yarn used: 335 yards – 1.54 balls (77 grams)
size knit: S
gauge: 16 st & 22 rows over 2” in stockinette
finished size: Back of heel to tip of toe: 9”; Top of cuff to bottom of heel: 9”
duration: January 20 – April 21, 2019