Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts's Short Row Heel

I've been knitting like crazy all morning. Hedera has been taking up my time, these days. I've made the occasional error on the leg, but manged to fix it all without it looking too shabby. I did have to restart the sock last weekend, after I realized I was doing the ssk incorrectly (I forgot to slip knitwise), but since then things had been going relatively smoothly. Until today.

"The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow."
—H.G. Wells

One can only hope. I had decided to work a short row heel for Hedera, instead of the heel flap/gusset it calls for. The problem is, perhaps, that I don't own a reference for sock construction, and the websites I've been going off of haven't always been very clear. Purlwise has been my main reference, and I don't mean to say that it isn't good; it just isn't always as clear as I would like. It was the TechGuy Sock pattern that helped clear things up for me when I was uncertain. Of course, had I thought about it in the first place, I could have figured it out on my own and saved myself an hour and a half of knitting/ripping back, but apparently thinking is highly overrated on Saturdays. Then again, so is wasting time.



As you can see, I eventually got the hang of the first part of the short row heel, and have just now finished the second part. Finally. After taking a close look at it, though, I realized that part of the rightside of the 'seam' that the short row heel (not a real seam, mind you) is full of holes—in other words, I messed up, and covered for the mistake poorly.

Tomorrow I'll be back to square one, then, the start of the heel; my hands ache and I can't stand to look at Hedera any more today. One of these days, I'm going to learn to use a lifeline when trying out new techniques. It'd save me so much time.

"After all, tomorrow is another day."
—from Gone With the Wind

Yes; it is, indeed.

—J

learn by doing

It's interesting to see how people all over the place can make the same mistakes, without even realizing it. My mistake? The gusset---perhaps unsurprisingly. That whole "pick up and knit" thing that you're supposed to do somehow slipped [knitting pun---get it?] right by me. Literally, I picked up the stitches (just one side, not two), and knit into it through the back of the loop (to keep things tight and neat). Evidently, I did more than make up the ktbl. part; I did it entirely wrong.

I'm in good company, though. Grumperina did the same thing on her first pair of socks. And you know what? I'm happy with this method. I think I'll stick with it. Deviant behavior (and social control?) ahoy.

Either way, I have officially finished my first sock ever, which is entirely too exciting. As seems to be the case with me and learning new knitting-type techniques, learning how to sew up the toe with the kitchener stitch was quite simple. I did make some other mistakes on the toe, mind you (thanks to my own carelessness, more than anything), but we'll come to that next time. Huzzah! :)