So it started out like this — the heels were worn (in the blue pair the wear extended into the instep). I’ve created a way of replacing heels so that was what I was planning on doing. I picked up stitches around the worn out heels, ran a holding thread through, cut out the worn part a short distance away from the holding thread, then removed the excess knitting until I reached the holding stitches.

The procedure then involves picking up the stitches at the leg edge of the heel, knitting a regular heel, then grafting back the instep to complete the sock. That worked on two pairs. Shaved the nubbies off the socks and they’re like new.

The blue pair required a bit more extensive surgery! I knit the heel and the gusset and was set to graft back the toe when I discovered the toes and underside of the foot were too threadbare to warrant using. So I continued knitting the entire foot. I scrounged around my leftover yarn but I had no variegated yarn to blend with the leg so I elected to finish the foot in a solid dark grey yarn.

These will now last another couple years of hard wear!