sock toes and heels

Here are some general ideas on toes and heels. I've found that I like them curved instead of straight. In general, for a toe, my current favorite is to cast on about an inch of sts using the Turkish cast on, then determine the number of increase rounds needed. Do increase rounds every round for the first half of the increase rounds needed. Increase every other round for the rest less two. Then increase every third round twice. Finally, if needed for the top, make increases on top For example:

Wrap yarn around 2 circ needles 9 times. k9 off of top needle. k9 off of bottom needle.
R1: k1, m1, k..., m1, k1 on top needle, k1, m1, k...., m1, k1 on bottom needle.
Repeat R1 to 19 sts on each needle
Alternate R2 (k across) with R1 to a total of 25 sts per needle
Do R2, R2, R1 to a total of 29 sts per needle
Do R2 on top needle and k across on lower needle. (31 sts on top, 29 on bottom)

My favorite heel is the Widdershins heel. It's a toe-up heel-flap heel with no sts to pick up. To make calculations for the heel, determine the number of rows desired for the heel flap (in the example below, 28 rows). Then determine how wide you want the bottom of the heel (in the example below, 23 sts). Finally, decided how wide you want the heel flap (in the example below, 31 sts).

Approximately 4" (for me) before the end of the foot, start making gusset increases as in the Widdershins pattern. For a heel flap of 28 rows and 31 sts wide and a bottom heel 23 sts wide, increase to 51 (= 28 + 23) sts then work this variation of the Widdershins heel on the middle 23 sts. (The middle 23 sts become the heel flap. The 14 sts on either side are the left and right gussets.)
Row 1: k to 2 sts before end of heel sts, inc1, k1, turn
Row 2: s1, p to 2 sts before end of heel sts, inc1, p1, turn
Row 3: s1, k to 3 sts before gap, inc1, k1, turn
Row 4: s1, p to 3 sts before gap, inc1, p1, turn
Rep rows 3 and 4 until there are 29 heel sts (2 fewer than final heel flap size). Then
s1, k to 4 (or 5) sts before gap, inc1, k1, turn
s1, p to 4 (or 5) sts before gap, inc1, p1, turn

(The numbers in red are a change from the original.) Then to make the heel flap:
Row 1: s1, k to last heel st, ssk last heel st and 1 st from left gusset
Row 2: s 1, p to last heel st, p2tog last heel st and 1 st from right gusset

Note: The chart is an old one -- made before I switched from numbering from the top down to from the bottom up.