Well....you will have your work divided with 32 stitches on one needle for the instep and 32 stitches on another for the heel.
When knitting on 4 DP needles, I always divide my work so that half the stitches ( 32 in this case) are on one needle and then divide the other 32 in half on the other 2 needles. When you put your work away it folds flat....and when you go to do the heel you will have the 32 stitches.
You need to have 32 stitches on one needle for the instep, which you won't touch until after you have turned the heel, and put the other 32 stitches on one DP needle and work back and forth.
The directions should read...
Sl 1, K 1 across
And for row: 2 Sl1 and P1 across....knit one row and purl the next...but alays slip the first stitch of every row.
Hope this gets you straightened out.
Linda C

What Linda said.

Plus - the slip one and purl back, yes, you are basically purling back, but the 'slip one' is to make a nice chain at the edge of the heel flap so it will be easier to pick up the stitches later.

Yes, that helps a lot. I'm going to ignore the instructions that say to P back 15 stitches. That would put me in the middle of the two heel needles. I'm at the point where I'm ready to start going back and forth for the heel flap (at the left end of needle 1).

I'll slip the first stitch and P or K the rest, across.

As always, Linda, thank you.

And I'll put the heel stitches on one needle.

Thank you too, Sylvia. I remember how helpful that chain is.

One of my books has a heel pattern that reads like this:

Row 1: Slip 1, P to end of needle, turn to rs.
Row 2: *Slip 1, K1; repeat from * across row, turn to ws.

I think this looks like Row 2 is supposed to have every other stitch slipped. Have you ever heard of that?

I used to do the heel flap with the one row of slip every other stitch on the knit row....makes sort of a ribbing look....supposed to make the heel wear better.
I would do that....as it makes the heel flap narrower and the sock fit better....
Didn't want to confuse you further by telling you anything else though! LOL!
Linda C

I thought I might try the slip-every-other-stitch method since I had already done a pair of socks the other way, but it seemed like a lot of "slipping" so I wasn't sure if I understood it correctly. I think I will try it. Seems like there is a lot to learn about socks, even tho the basic top down pattern stays the same. It is so clever the way a sock is goes together.

I just finished my FIRST sock!
It's heel flap was a little triangle. There were decreases one stitch in along each edge. There must be lots of different ways to do a sock heel depending on the pattern. This one had cables down the sides and back right to the bottom of the heel--it was made that way for wearing with an open heel shoe.

One thing I wish is that I had used some reinforcing thread for this section just in case it will wear out there. After all that work I don't want it to wear out--of course i still have to make the second sock before i need to worry about that!

Do any of you reinforce your heels?
Thanks.

Here is a link that might be useful: sock pattern

Cute sock!....but what we are talking about as a "heel flap" is not that little triangle on the side....but the back which on your pattern is cabeled.
I used to put a thread of reinforcing nylon in the heels of the mens socks I would knit....but it didn't do much good....so now I just make the whole sock or just the heel flap in a synthetic. I have made way too many cashmere and camel hair and lambs wool socks that wear out way too soon!
Linda C

CONGRATULATIONS, Plantknitter! Those cables are really good looking. Now do it again and you'll have a pair.

That's a pretty sock, plantknitter.

What I like to do with socks is use two sets of dpns. Then I do both socks at the same time. No "orphan" socks. I do the ribbing on one, then the other; the stockinette leg on one, then the other, heel flap on one, then the other and so forth. It helps me remember the "tricky" (for me, anyway) parts of the pattern when I do the second one right after the first one.

socks, yes, it does sound like that p back 15 can be safely ignored, they have you starting the heel stitch in the middle of a row looks like. Maybe it's just a typo, since they also say "all the stitches on 1 and 4" and sounds like there are 32 on those two needles. I like having the heel stitches all on one needle, but it takes me a few rows of heel stitch to get where it's loose enough at the "corners" to be comfortable on just one needle so I leave it on two until there is some depth to the flap. Just my preference.

I have knit many socks. For the heel flap - I will use your 32 stitches for an example. I slip 1, knit across to end on the right side. I slip 1, purl across on the wrong side. I continue in this fashion to about 16 or 18, then on the knit side, I slip 1 stitch, knit 1, slip 1, knit 1 all the way across. Then in the purl side, I slip 1, purl across. For the balance of the rows till I get to row 32. I like my flaps to measure 2.75 inches, so I just measure as I am working. Then I turn the heel. I hope this helps. I have done my flaps different ways just to experiment.