Zwickel by General Hogbuffer

Zwickel

Knitting
May 2016
Light Fingering ?
34 stitches and 42 rows = 4 inches
in Stockinette (unblocked/unstretched)
US 1½ - 2.5 mm
450 - 600 yards (411 - 549 m)
7(8) inches foot circumference (unstretched), leg and foot length as desired
English
This pattern is available from knitspot.com for $7.00.

One of the traditional forms of Alpine knitted stockings involves the use of a “Zwickel” with a “Zwickelkeil”, i.e. a clock motif with a gusset. These tend to be highly decorative, and the purpose of the gusset is to move the banded designs diagonally towards the centre front. Rather than using this concept for purely aesthetical reasons, I decided to give it a function within the heel construction. So while traditionally these clock motifs would be placed somewhere around the mid-calf region, I have moved the Zwickel onto the ankle, where the resulting gusset forms the base for a Strong Heel set up.