How many stitches go on the heel flap?

A standard flap uses half the total sock stitches. If you cast on 64, the heel flap is worked over 32 stitches while the other 32 wait on the instep needles. This calculator splits your total automatically.

How long should the heel flap be?

Work the flap until it is square — the same number of rows as there are heel stitches. With a slip-stitch pattern that slips every other row, this is typically the heel stitch count in rows, which the tool reports.

How does turning the heel work?

Turning the heel uses short rows to cup the heel. You work to the centre, decrease, turn, and repeat, leaving roughly the centre third of the heel stitches plus the worked corners. The tool estimates the centre count and remaining stitches after the turn.

How many stitches do I pick up for the gusset?

Pick up about one stitch per two rows along each side of the flap, which usually equals half the flap row count per side. The tool sums both sides plus the heel-turn stitches so you can check your needle counts before decreasing the gusset back to the original total.

What about a short-row heel?

A short-row heel has no flap or gusset. It works over half the sock stitches and divides them into thirds: the centre third stays live while the outer thirds are wrapped and turned. The tool shows the centre and wrap stitch counts for the short-row method too.

Knitting Sock Heel Turn Calculator

Sock heels involve a chain of stitch and row counts that all derive from your gauge and foot measurement. This calculator does that arithmetic for both the classic flap-and-gusset heel and the short-row heel, so you can knit a heel that actually fits.

How it works

Everything starts from cast-on stitches, which come from gauge, circumference, and negative ease:

target circumference = foot circumference × (1 − ease%)
cast-on  = round(target circumference × stitches-per-inch) to nearest even (×4 preferred)
heel sts = cast-on / 2
flap rows= heel sts        (square slip-stitch flap)
gusset pickup per side ≈ flap rows / 2
heel-turn centre ≈ round(heel sts / 3)

A short-row heel uses the same heel sts = cast-on / 2 but divides those into thirds, keeping the centre third live while wrapping the outer thirds.

Tips and example

At 8 stitches per inch on an 8-inch foot with 10 percent negative ease, the target circumference is 7.2 inches, giving about 58 stitches, rounded to 60 for a multiple of four. The heel flap is then 30 stitches worked for 30 rows, with about 15 stitches picked up per gusset side. Always knit a true gauge swatch in the round if you knit at a different tension in the round than flat, and adjust the ease percentage up for slippery yarns that relax with wear.