if you have knitted socks with short row heels before you have most certainly been annoyed with the so called "boomerang rounds" - the two rounds worked between the two sections of the heel - that usually screw up the colour flow on top of the sock. now, with solid yarn it does not make a difference of course, and with variegated yarns and very slow gradients it doesn't bother me so much either, but with a lot of self-patterning or self-striping yarn this thin line of two knit rows can be very irritating. same with a heel in a contrasting colour.
there is a way around this - and it's not an afterthought heel which would of course be a very elegant way to do it, but some knitters may not like an afterthought heel or have never tried one and don't want to - which is fine too...
this technique can be done with every type of short row heel and every type of stitches used to create said short rows: twin stitches, double stitches, wrap'n'turns, un-knitted stitches, etc. (these are the ones i know but there may be more.)
now let's get started:
when you are ready to start the heel, knit only three quarters of the round in your main colour and stop there. (i have 60 stitches in total on 4 dpns so i knit 45 stitches across three needles.) don't cut the yarn - you will pick it up again when the heel is done. start knitting the heel in your contrasting colour (or the same if you just want to keep the pattern from being disturbed on the top of the sock). leave a long tail end!
i have actually knitted the last two stitches before changing colours (stitches 44 and 45) with both yarns to keep the first stitch of the contrasting colour from undoing itself.
knit the first section of your heel as you normally would - going from long to short.
what you would normally do now is knit down to the left, from the center of the heel, dealing with the short row stitches and then across the top/front of the sock to the other/right side of the heel and up to the center again.
i've drawn a little diagram to show you what you want to do instead:
you knit down to the left as you normally would:
as you can see - i have all normal stitches on the left needle and my working yarn is hanging to the left as well. now you can either turn your work and purl across all the heel stitches to the other side - dealing with your short row stitches on the right needle -
or you can do it the way i do: by knitting backwards. this is a great video to learn how to knit backwards and learning this is really worth what little effort it takes. it's great to use on heels, for short stretches of knitting where you don't want to turn and purl. it's also a great technique for anyone switching from english style knitting to continental style knitting - i know lots of new continental knitters have troubles with purl stitches while knit stitches are comparatively easy.
when you are at the right side of the heel, knit back up the way to the center of the heel. you now have normal knit stitches across the heel, just as if you had knitted all the way around the whole sock. now you can start the second section of the short row heel.
when the heel is done you should be at the left side of the heel. (the heel i knit actually takes me back to the center of the heel when it's done so i just knit down to the left side.) now you can cut the contrasting colour, but make sure to leave a long enough tail.
go back to the right side of the heel where the main colour is waiting for you. (you can see the two stitches i knitted with both colours there. if you did that too, you can either just leave them or gently pull the contrasting colour stitches out again. i left them - it hardly shows once the heel is completely done.)
as you can see there is a gap because you have knitted several rows back and forth, creating something like a mini heel flap. now you can either pick up three or four stitches and decrease them in a mini gusset in the next couple of stitches -
or you can just ignore the gap and start knitting across the heel stitches in your main colour. (if you have done an afterthought heel before, this gap might be familiar to you, if not - never mind.) be sure to pull the first one or two stitches tight so you don't get ladders.
here i have knitted two rows around the sock already. you need to knit some more before you can close the hole.
as soon as you have knitted enough of the foot - maybe ten rounds or more, or even when you are done with the whole sock - you can turn the sock inside out and sew the hole closed. here is how i did it:
use the tail end on both sides to pick up the loops around the hole and pull it closed.
(sorry - i only noticed this picture came out blurry when i uploaded them onto the computer.)
make sure not to pick up the loops on the very edge. this might show on the outside. go for the next inside loop.
now gently pull the hole closed:
this is what it looks like on the outside:
secure the end and weave it in. check on the outside: in case there are any ladders or loose stitches you can darn them closed on the inside. this is how the inside of my socks look:
not extremly pretty but secure. i use a duplicate stitch on the purl side to weave in all of my ends. a couple of stitches in one direction and then the other. it adds no uncomfortable bulk and it has never yet come undone.
(sorry again - picture taken at night.)
there you have a short row heel without boomerang rounds disturbing your colour sequence.
if you want to know more about the type of short row heel i'm doing - there will be more on that soon.
and if you would like to know how i did the patterns on my cuff - you can find instructions for it here (cuff drops pattern) and here (mitred square patchwork socks).
happy knitting!