I like to make my socks toe-up on two circulars and up until recently I was using the figure 8 cast on and making my increases on every other row at each end of each needle. I have just discovered the turkish cast on and love it because it appears that there is NO cast on at all, just a smooth toe. I still like that particular toe, but I often cast on more stitches than the pattern calls for, because I don't like a pointy toe.

I do the figure 8 too, but am curious about the turkish cast on. Donna, is there a website showing how to do this?

Thanks, Rebecca

Here you go, Rebecca. I found some videos, but they are all badly done. I think this tutorial will be much more clear. It's easy!

Here is a link that might be useful: Turkish Cast On

Thanks Donna! I got lost in her blog for about an hour this morning. I like her short row heel tut. All I could find too were the really bad youtube videos. I like that I can get rid of the slipknot that always makes a bump on my toes.

Rebecca

And what heel do you all like? So far I haven't done toe up, so it's been the traditional heel flap. I'd like to try the afterthought heel but the directions are a little unclear. Suggestions?

The afterthought heel is my new favorite heel. I wear my slipper socks nearly all the time when I am at home and wear out toes and heels quickly. After snipping out the "regular" heel and doing an afterthought heel, I was so proud of myself. Now that is the only heel I use! Love2knit, it is just as if you were knitting a toe on a top down sock. If you are knitting toe up, then you just knit in a length of waste yarn about 2" from the end of your foot (for me this is just about where my ankle bone is) across half of the foot sts. Now go back and knit them again with your sock yarn. Then just finish knitting your sock. If you are knitting the socks top-down, then just knit in the waste yarn at about the same spot you would normally begin the heel flap, then go back and knit the stitches again with your sock yarn and again, finish the sock. Go back and weave your needles back into the stitches on the waste yarn, then pull the waste yarn out. I usually pick up an extra stitch at each end of my two circulars. Then, knit a toe. Yes, a toe. I decrease every other row at each end of the two circs until I have anywhere from 8 to 16 stitches left. This depends on the type of yarn and size of needles you are using. And you can try them on at any time to see if you think you need to decrease more. Then I close the heel with kitchener stitch (another thing that scared me until I gave it a try and found out I was making a mountain out of a molehill).