Sock Talk

You mean those potatoes were still edible? I doubt it, they were soft and squishy. I keep most of my fruit and vegetables in the fridge. Even when I buy stuff in small quantities, it lasts very long because I'm basically cooking just for myself: The spouse gets fed at work and he likes eating out on weekends (which is really nice).

The socks are progressing beautifully. I decided to challenge myself into knitting a gusseted heel to make them more interesting. I got the idea from Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles, by Cat Bordhi, which was my inspiration for these socks. There is a beautiful toe-up pattern called "Leaf and Tendril" that I would have chosen if I were using a solid color instead of a variegated yarn. The instructions are very clear and the only confusion arose from my knitting style, which orients the stitches on the needles in a different way than most Anglo-Saxon knitters do.

Why is it that almost everybody uses the gusseted heel? It messes up banding patterns. Also, it is not particularly pretty, and knitting it is too complicated. The toe-up method saves you from picking up stitches, but I still believe the short row heel is easier and looks better. I had holes along the heel flap:



At first I thought It was my twisted stitches, but then I took a close look at another gusseted sock knitted from the top down:



That picture comes from the book No Sheep for You, by Amy Singer. I can definitely see holes where the stitches were picked up. So it is not me, it is not my twisted stitches and it is not the toe-up direction of the pattern. Bordhi's book does include recommendations to avoid holes by twisting the stitches when you pick them up, but I doubt I'll ever do a gusseted heel again. Still, I'm glad I gave it a try.

I did like the stitch pattern, and I hope it really makes the heels last longer. I believe this can be applied to short row heels and I might try that later on.

I should add that I didn't buy either of those books, nor the book I took the "Go with the Flow" pattern from: they are all library books. I do buy knitting books if after checking them out of the library I feel the need to possess them, but I am too frugal to let that happen very often.

Some bad news this week: The pooch turned fifteen and I wanted to take him for a day trip as a present, but the car door got in the way. So he instead got an emergency visit to the vet, four stitches and an Elizabethan collar.



I doubt he liked his presents.