This is the first in a series of witchy field notes, free to read at my blog. This one is all about bog cotton, near-forgotten goddesses and fen-related needle craft.

https://open.substack.com/pub/allysonshaw/p/needlecraft-of-bog-hall #witch #orkney #scotland #folklore #bog #landscape #PlaceWriting #Plants #wildflower #blogger #knitting #spinning #sockknitting #KnittingHistory #FibreArts

#Introduction

I am:
Never-ending knitting with colour by night
Academic library staff by day
Bisexual
Married
Scottish in Glasgow

I like:
#Knitting
#knittingHistory
#Birdwatching
Walks
Colour
Trying new hobbies
#Embroidery
#Painting
#gaming
Social Justice
Equality
Thinking of others
Cats

I don't like:
Selfishness
Entitlement
People who hate

In the 1920s, clothes manufacturers starting using machines to knit socks on a large scale.

This shift in manufacturing meant the majority of socks were and still are made with a short row heel. Short row heels are easier for machines to make because there's no picking up of stitches involved.

Short row heels are fine if you have low insteps, but they tend to be tighter across the instep. This is because the number of stitches doesn't change. They often rely on super stretchy fabric to fit.

Heel flap heels are shaped more like a human foot. Human feet do not have a right angle from ankle to instep. It's more of a slope. Heel flap heels accommodate this because they use a gusset. A heel flap is knit back and forth flat (this is the flap)*, then there is a small heel turn, and stitches are picked up around the sides of the flap to return to knitting in the round. This means that they're are more stitches now than when you started.

If you struggle with getting socks over your heel, or hate wearing socks because they're too tight on the top of your foot, you might want to try finding socks that are made with a heel flap.

*You can totally make heel flap heels without picking up stitches if you knit them toe up, but this method is relatively new (note: new in the sense that folks have been knitting socks well before the stories depicted in the bible). Either way, it's cheaper for machines to make socks with short row heels.

#Knitting #KnittingHistory #Socks #HandknitSocks #KnittersOfMastodon #Industrialism