Getting Started Knitting Socks - Part 6 - Gusset

Picking up the stitches.

Once the heel turn has been made, it is time to pick-up the stitches along the selvedge edges of the heel flap. The first stitch of each row on the heel flap was slipped to make a selvedge that is easy to pick up. I ended up with fourteen stitches at the end of the heel turn, and thirteen stitches are picked-up on the first needle. Ann Budd gives three different ways to pick-up stitches. I chose the Pick Up Both Stitches method. In this method, the gusset stitches are picked-up through both halves of the edge stitch, the yarn is wrapped around the needle, as if to knit, then the yarn is brought through to create a new stitch on the needle. Then twelve stitches are knitted on the second and third needles, which hold the instep stitches. Next, thirteen stitches are picked-up along the other side of the heel flap, on the fourth needle, plus seven stitches of the heel turn row. At this point, the working yarn is in the center of the heel. Each round, for all the gusset decreases, start in the middle of the heel. There are 20 stitches on needle one, 12 stitches on each of needles two and three, making 24 stitches on the instep, and 20 stitches on needle four. That is a total of 64 stitches. The objective of the Gusset Decreases is to get back to 48 total stitches, or 12 stitches on each needle.

The decreases are made using k2tog on needle one, and ssk on needle four. This is what the pattern looks like:

Gusset Decreases:
Rnd 1: pick-up sts as described above.
Rnd 2: On needle 1, knit to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1; on needles 2 and 3, knit across all instep sts; on needle 4, k1, ssk, knit to end (2 gusset sts dec'd).
Rnd 3: knit
Rep Rnds 2 and 3 until 48 sts rem (12 sts on each needle).

Since there is a decrease round, followed by a knit round, I used a stitch marker to mark the stitch at the beginning of each decrease, and removed the stitch marker and pinned it through the center of the heel on the knit round. So the gusset decreases looked like this:

Rnd 01: pick-up sts on heel flaps (64 sts)
Rnd 02: k17, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k17 (62 sts)
Rnd 03: k62
Rnd 02: k16, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k16 (60 sts)
Rnd 03: k60
Rnd 02: k15, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k15 (58 sts)
Rnd 03: k58
Rnd 02: k14, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k14 (56 sts)
Rnd 03: k56
Rnd 02: k13, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k13 (54 sts)
Rnd 03: k54
Rnd 02: k12, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k12 (52 sts)
Rnd 03: k52
Rnd 02: k11, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k11 (50 sts)
Rnd 03: k50
Rnd 02: k10, k2tog, k1, k24, k1, ssk, k10 (48 sts)
Rnd 03: k48



The finished gusset decreases. The working yarn is at the middle of the heel, so each round starts there.

Next, the foot is knitted in St st until the piece measures 8.75 inches from the back of the heel, or about 2.25 inches less than the desired total foot length.