Sleepless in PEC

Boy, I’m tired. I’ve been cutting and sewing nearly around the clock. I wish I had some knitting bag photos to show for it, but they are really rather large and don’t fit into my tiny photo area. I”ll get some outdoor photos as soon as I get some reasonable light. Believe me when I say that they are not your grandmother’s knitting bags. They are big, solid knitting bags with tons of pockets geared specifically to the knitter. There are places for needles, circular and dp, loops for scissors and lots of secure spots to stow cable needles, stitch markers and other necessary little items. 

I have not had a lot of time for knitting this week BUT I have finally managed to work out my ultimate short-row sock heel. A couple of years ago, Mrs. Robinson and I flirted with toe-up socks and were both disappointed with the look of the short-row heel. We found a couple of pressing problems; the heels did not look the same on both sides and there were often little holes along the diagonal line. We experimented with several methods but, until now, I don’t think we lit upon a perfect solution….until now!

Understand that this is an aggregation of the many techniques I’ve tested…I’m sure I did not invent it. I use this method when knitting socks from the top down, but I’m sure it would work just as well working the other way. Here’s how it goes; note that there are no wraps! <lovely!>

• Place half of your leg on one needle. Turn. Slip the first stitch purl-wise (in fact, slip all stitches purl-wise). Purl across, leaving the last stitch unworked. Turn.
• Slip the first stitch. Knit across leaving the last stitch unworked. Turn.
• Slip the first stitch. Purl across leaving the last two stitches unworked. Turn
• Continue in this manner until you have about 16 to 20 stitches left in center, depending on how wide you want your heel to be.

The magic, however, is in the next step where the short stitches are knitted back up:

• Work across to one stitch before the gap. Slip that stitch onto the right needle. 
• Pick up the bar between the slipped stitch and the next stitch from front to back.
• Put the stitch you slipped back onto your left needle and knit it together with the next stitch. Turn.
• Slip the first stitch (the K2tog you just made) and work across to one stitch before the gap and do the same thing.
• Continue in this manner until all the stitches have been worked. 

All of that having been said, I don’t love the pucker socks 🙁 I don’t know if it’s the yarn or the way the puckers fit but I’m afraid they’ll be coming out…again. I did find, however, that I love this merino-angora sock yarn from Regia. I think I’d rather have a pair made from that!