toe portion 78 feed 4 continues knitting on 400 needles while feeds 1 3 5 and 7 are knitting on only 200 needles i e alternate ones of the needles are held down while the cylinder turns through feeds 1 3 5 and 7 in addition throughout the tubular body 70 from the first course of the upper calf portion 72 to the last course of the foot portion 76 an elastomeric yarn is fed instead of the stretch yarn on feed 1 the elastomeric yarn preferably being knit at fourteen grams of tension this tension on the elastomeric yarn feed together with the reduced number of needles knitting on four of the five seeds results in a tighter knit and consequently increased tension in the upper and lower calf portions 72 and 74 transition portions 73 and 75 and foot portion 76 as compared with the welt band 71 to form the heel patch 77 an additional heavier weight stretch yarn is fed to feed 4 in addition to the stretch yarn already being fed thereby for the desired longitudinal and circumferential extent of the heel patch 77 it is an important feature of the invention that the cross sectional dimensions of the tubular body 70 are varied along the length thereof in a manner such as to achieve a substantially uniform decrease in circumferential tension.