Double pointed needles with a twist - or flexibility rather! The latest way to knit socks. The double pointed knitting needles have a short section of cord in the middle of each one allowing it to bend.
With this three piece set of flexible sock knitting needles even really small diameter pieces can be knitted very easily. For knitting in the round, the stitches are distributed over two needles and the third needle is used for knitting, meaning only two needle changes per row.
Short row heels are a breeze on these, just split your stitches with half on each of two needles. You can knit heel flaps by placing one third of the stitches on one needles and the rest on the other.