now this is a sock

Just braggin' again. I made a sock. It is one of the four- stitch designs from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. For those unfamiliar with this book, she organizes her designs by the number of repeats in the leg and instep pattern. I took the double moss stitch pattern froom her first book, but I made the short row heel from her second book, More Sensational......, etc.

I made my first socks in March of this year (not counting a pair I made 30 years ago) from the Ann Budd Getting Started Knitting Socks book with Lorna's Laces yarn that I luckily won in a contest on Ruthless Knitting. Although I love and wear my socks, I wasn't thrilled with the Ann Budd prototype. Her sizing does not include negative ease, as I believe it should, and the flap heel and gusset is particularly floppy.

Socks with short row heels look much better to me. I could never find short row heel instructions in either the Ann Budd or first Charlene Schurch book, but I did find some in the the second Schurch book. After trying to follow the instructions, I can see why heel flaps and not short rows seem to be the current sock standard. I could semi-follow the directions, but I could not understand how to make the three-stitch decrease involving a stitch and two wraps. Enter cosmicpluto.

In a post dated October, 2006, cosmicpluto provides an illustrated tutorial on short row heels. The illustrations are good for reassurance, but don't help much. However, the written directions are outstanding. Thank you cosmicpluto. Thanks to you, I have made this sort of beautiful heel.

Although cosmicpluto promises that this is a holeless heel, it isn't, at least not in my version. But that's ok. I didn't mind mending the hole in the corner. With God as my witness, I will never knit a flap heel again.

This sock and heel seems to fit so much better than the flap heeled one. The proof will be in the wearing though. My one fear is a heel that works its way down under the foot as you wear it. If it does that, I will have to change my vow. But for now, I am hurrying to make the second sock so that I can test them out. After that, my next sock will be toe up.