Tips and Tricks for Devious Knitters: Shadow-Wrap Short Rows

Shadow-wrap short rows are my favorite way to make short rows. They have a few advantages over other short-row methods, especially for socks.

I often have a hard time seeing the gap when using wrap-and-turn short rows. Shadow wraps are nearly impossible to miss. Japanese short rows are another method I like, but those require having stitch markers handy, and sometimes I don’t.

Lots of people like the simplicity and ease of German short rows, and while I like German short rows for many applications, socks isn’t one of them. German short rows can’t be stacked atop one another as we generally do when turning a sock heel, so that means knitting an extra round all the way around the sock. If I’m working a contrast-color heel or using striping yarn, that row that extends around the front makes a visual interruption I don’t care for.

So that brings me to shadow wraps. They’re easy to do and don’t require any special care. They can be worked several ways. On last week’s episode of Would Knit Be Fun, I demonstrated the way I do them. It’s at 53:30 on the video below.

I hope you find this technique useful! It’s one I often teach in my classes and use in some of my sock patterns, like Wanderoo.