Re-footing made Easy.
A Hand-knit Sock showing the replaceable foot sections, and the method of reinforcing the heel.
This method of knitting hose renders it an easy matter to repair the heel and toe when these parts become worn. By simply undoing the end stitch of a row of crochet chain stitches, the sole, heel, or toe part can be almost instantly removed by pulling the thread and undoing the crochet. The chain stitches are used to join the different parts, which are worked separately and then joined together.
When the worn part is removed, a piece exactly the same size is knitted and joined to the remainder of the sock with the row of chain stitches. In this way the leg and instep portions, which seldom wear out, may be made to serve for two or three renewals of the parts exposed to wear.
It is just as easy to knit a sock or stocking in the new way as in the old, and the saving effected by the new way is great, especially now, when woollen thread is both scarce and expensive. The same may be said about cotton thread.
The sock or stocking is begun in the usual way, and may be made either plain or ribbed.
The sock illustrated is a full-size man’s sock, and the joinings are shown in the dark line round the heel, along the side of the foot, and across the instep at the beginning of the front toe part.
These joinings were made in black thread on the white sock in order to show the joinings, but in making a sock they must all be worked with the same thread as in the sock. Then the joinings are not visible on the outside, nor is there a seam on the inside, as the row of chain stitches forms a flat line.