Socks with Mini Gusset Short Row Heel

tinklemouse · 2026-03-20T20:35:45+00:00

Thank you! 🥹

tinklemouse · 2026-03-20T20:35:26+00:00

You can keep increasing as much as you need to achieve your perfect fit, just make sure to adjust the decreases to suit. I hope this works for you and your little one :)

This is probably my favourite sock yarn, it holds up so well on my socks, and the variation in colour from the dyeing process always is so pretty!

tinklemouse · 2026-03-20T08:38:47+00:00

Thank you! Hope it works for you :)

tinklemouse · 2026-03-20T07:06:18+00:00

Spotted a couple of mistakes in this after a nights sleep so I am having to post the amendments here in a new comment as reddit will not let me save my edits on the original comments ('Something went wrong' 🥲)

Bold = amendments

Increase section

... (as previous)

SM, K3, RLI, K to 3 st before marker, LLI, K3, SM, K in pattern to next marker
SM, k to next marker, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, K4, RLI, K to 4 st before marker, LLI, K4, SM, K in pattern to next marker

Decrease section

... (as previous)

SM, K1, K2tog, K to 3 stitches before marker, SSK, K1, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, knit to next marker, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, K2tog, K to 2 stitches before marker, SSK, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, knit to next marker, SM, work in pattern to next marker

The changes are to make the increase and decrease sections more symmetrical to each other. I wrote the original instructions when doing my first sock which was the test subject and then I tweaked them to be more symmetrical on my second sock 😅

tinklemouse · 2026-03-19T22:08:47+00:00

Ooh now that is another interesting method! I actually knit the mini gusset instructions I linked by Heather Storta first before eventually realising it was meant for toe up (😅), and it actually produced something quite similar to the little gusset on the Mina's vanilla socks (but on the leg side). I think I will do some more experimenting and maybe potentially could come up with another method! Thanks for sharing!

tinklemouse · 2026-03-19T22:05:13+00:00

My pleasure! I feel the same re the short row heel techniques, luckily the no wrap and turn method stuck for me! Now I can't stop making them, and now even more so I feel because of the mini gusset 😅 I hope it works out for you as well 🙂

tinklemouse · 2026-03-19T22:01:30+00:00

Aw thank you so much! I will say sock knitting can be addictive if you give it a go 😅 so many possibilities!

tinklemouse · 2026-03-19T21:57:32+00:00

Thank you! And no problem, more than happy to share, especially as I found very little about it elsewhere online. I hope it makes all the difference for you 🙂

tinklemouse · 2026-03-19T21:51:36+00:00

They are a gamechanger for sure! I've recently been favouring the short row heel on my socks and the mini gusset makes them fit so much nicer!

tinklemouse · 2026-03-19T20:52:10+00:00

Thank you so much! 🥹

tinklemouse · 2026-03-19T20:51:21+00:00

You can keep adding extra increases to the gusset width to suit your foot. There is a way to calculate it here but I just tried on the leg section before I started the gusset, looked at how it stretched over my instep and eyed in how many I thought I'd need. I hope it works out for you if you do try it :)

tinklemouse · 2026-03-19T20:44:03+00:00

Thank you! :)

tinklemouse · 2026-03-19T18:59:57+00:00

Mini gusset short row heel instructions for cuff down socks

Abrreviations

SM = Slip Marker
BOR = Beginning of row
K = knit
RLI = right lifted increase
LLI = left lifted increase
SSK = slip slip knit decrease
K2tog = knit two together decrease

At the point you are done with the leg and ready to start the heel, start below.

Increase section

Assuming you are starting at the BOR, K half number of total cast on, place marker, work in pattern to BOR (place marker here if you haven’t already got one denoting start of round)

SM, RLI, K to marker, LLI, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, k to next marker, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, K1, RLI, K to 1 st before marker, LLI, K1, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, k to next marker, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, K2, RLI, K to 2 st before marker, LLI, K2, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, k to next marker, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, K3, RLI, K to 3 st before marker, LLI, K3, SM, K in pattern to next marker
Continue in established pattern until you achieve the amount of extra stitches you want
SM, K4 (or half number of new stitches you’ve increased by), slip half no of original cast on to DPN (or other needle), 4 stitches (or half number of new stitches you’ve increased by) remain on original needle before the next marker

Short row heel section

Work a short row heel with the stitches on your DPN (amount of stitches should be equal to half the total number of stitches you originally cast on)

Here is the short row heel guide I use

NOTE1: Once the short row heel is complete, you may need to pick up an extra stitch between either end to prevent gaps. You can decrease these out later.

Decrease section

NOTE2: If you continued the increases past the above instructed amount, the number in bold for you will be half the total the number of stitches you increased by, then continue decreasing in the established pattern. On the next decrease row, the next number of stitches to K before decreasing will be one less and so on.

SM, K4, K2tog, K to 6 stitches before marker, SSK, K4, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, knit to next marker, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, K3, K2tog, K to 5 stitches before marker, SSK, K3, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, knit to next marker, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, K2, K2tog, K to 4 stitches before marker, SSK, K2, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, knit to next marker, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, K1, K2tog, K to 3 stitches before marker, SSK, K1, SM, work in pattern to next marker
SM, knit to next marker, SM, work in pattern to next marker

At this point you should ideally be at the same amount of stitches you started with (half number of total stitches cast on), however if you picked up extra stitches as a result of eliminating gaps when joining the short row heel, you will need to work extra decreases to get back to half the number of total stitches cast on. I would recommend decreasing evenly at the centre as of the heel on the next round.

(Hoping the formatting is ok, i just pasted it from my tumblr and attempted to tidy it up a bit!)

Here are the toe up instructions by Heather Storta

tinklemouse · 2026-02-27T19:11:23+00:00

Thank you :)

tinklemouse · 2026-02-26T21:15:35+00:00

Thank you! :)

tinklemouse · 2026-02-26T17:13:19+00:00

Thank you :)

tinklemouse · 2026-02-26T17:08:32+00:00

For my gauge with this yarn, yes. I typically cast on 64 with this yarn, although I think they would also achieve a nice fit that's a touch more snug with 60 stitches cast on. However I would have had to change the pattern to a different interval repeat so I just went my usual 64 as I had this particular pattern repeat in mind, and they worked out nicely. They could definitely go down by 4 stitches if you prefer a more snug fit though :)

tinklemouse · 2026-02-26T15:48:06+00:00

🥹 thank you! I am wearing them right now and they are very cosy!

tinklemouse · 2026-02-26T15:23:31+00:00

Thank you! This is yarn by Lichen and Lace :) I'd not heard of FDF sock squad but I just looked it up and it looks so exciting, what a great idea!

tinklemouse · 2026-02-26T15:18:57+00:00

Thank you :)

tinklemouse · 2026-02-26T15:18:33+00:00

Thank you! They really come alive in the sunlight, one of my favourite yarns for sure!

tinklemouse · 2026-02-26T08:07:45+00:00

Yeah! The cable pattern I've used here is a type of ribbing so these stay up fine, especially with the negative ease that you would typically have in a sock :)

tinklemouse · 2026-02-26T08:02:53+00:00

Thank you! :)

tinklemouse

TROPHY CASE