Back in the day, before I started knitting socks (which is considerably more recently than you’d think; an Instagram reminder popped up the other day to tell me I knitted my first socks two years ago), I was absolutely terrified of turning heels. SO SCARED. It seemed like some impossible black magic that I would never be able to master.

Sock knitting was difficult, I was convinced of it. I should not even give it a try. Quit before you have the chance to get behind.

Well, if the title of this blog hasn’t already given it away, then I’ve got something I need to share with all other knitters who are scared of socks. Heel turns aren’t scary. Heel turns aren’t difficult. Heel turns aren’t witchcraft.

Heel turns are actually simple, and also quite fun.

Yes, there are many different types of heel turn. And yes, some of them are more complex than others, and some suit different feet better and some suit different socks better and blah blah blah. But let’s not worry about that. All you need to worry about is the heel turn in the pattern you’re using. Let us designers worry about the best way to swivel that heel round.

So, to show how simple heel turns can be, I’m going to walk you through one.

Take my new Ya Basic bed socks; the heel turn on those is so simple that I’m almost tempted to get my 3yo to try it out to see if he can handle it. To be honest, the only reason I haven’t done that is because I don’t want to get into another ridiculous situation where he insists he has to do something himself and it takes such a very long time and I lose the will to live because I could just do it so much quicker. I have visions of him running across the playroom every time I want to turn a heel, and I am not prepared for that to happen. No.

Anyway. The Ya Basic heel turn is…well, pretty basic. In case you don’t believe me, I’ve actually filmed all the stitches you need to do it, so you can see for yourself how it works. It’s like the knitting equivalent of unmasking the Scooby Doo villain; pull the sheet off, and there’s nothing frightening there are all.

What the hell is a short row heel turn?

First things first; you’ll see in the pattern that Ya Basic uses short rows to turn the heels. This sound like another bit of baffling knitting jiggery pokery, but really it just means this: when you knit a short row, you don’t knit across all the stitches in that row. You knit a few, and then you turn your work round and knit back again. At each end of the row you do a different stitch from the standard so you don’t end up with holes. That’s it.

One thing you’ll see in the Ya Basic instructions is “Sl 1”, which translates as ‘slip one stitch’. That’s one you can take pretty literally; you just put your right hand needle in to the first stitch on your left hand needle, and slip it across without knitting it. Simple. You’ll see that at the start of the rows in the heel turn section.

So how do I ssk (slip, slip, knit?)

Next up, you need to do a ssk before you turn your work. What that translates to is “slip 2 stitches as if to knit, and then knit them together.” Way easier than it sounds. Just watch this:

See what I did there? I slipped those two stitches over to my right hand needle. Then I inserted my left hand needle into the front of them, wrapped the yarn round the back (right hand needle) and slipped them off lefty. Then, for the sake of completing the short row, I did one more standard knit stitch and then turned my work.

Watch it a few times. Slip, slip, knit these two stitches together. Knit one more. Turn.

Right. And how do I p2tog (purl two together)?

If you’ve got the ssk down, the p2tog is going to be a piece of piss. Again, let’s have a look:

This one’s even easier than the ssk. You basically do a normal purl stitch, but rather than putting your right hand needle through just the first stitch, you put it through the first two. Then wrap your yarn and finish your stitch as normal. Again, I’ve done a standard purl stitch after the p2tog just to show exactly how to finish the row according to the pattern.

P2tog done. And with those two stitches you’ve done the bulk of the heel turn.

But how do I pick up stitches?

If, like me, you look at the instruction to pick up stitches and the first thing you think is “but I never put them down in the first place”, then this instruction can seem a bit tricky. But again, it’s not.

When you were knitting the heel flap of your sock, you will have slipped the first stitch of each row. That gives you a lovely big stitch to pick up these mysterious stitches from. Let me show you:

At the start of this video I’ve got to the end of the last heel turn row, so it’s time to pick up those stitches. That bit I’m showing you by my left thumb is the lovely big slipped stitches along the side of the heel flap.

To pick up and knit stitches from along there, you insert your right hand needle under both loops of one of those stitches, and then wrap your yarn and knit as normal. Do that right up the side of the heel flap for as many stitches as the pattern tells you, and you’re good to go.

(A little tip: try and make sure you pick up one of your stitches right up in the corner where the heel flap starts. That should stop you getting any little holes there)

Is that it? Have I turned a heel now?

Yes. Yes you have.

See, I told you it wasn’t hard. If you want to give it a shot, you’ll find the links to buy the Ya Basic pattern below. And don’t forget that 10% of all sales goes to the wonderful Bluebell Care.