Visible progress at last

The heels are finally turned. They are not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination but after three tries, I'm done trying for perfection. These socks are learning socks and it's okay that they're not perfect.

Problem one, I don't think the wraps on the purl stitches were consistently wrapped the right direction. On one side of the heel, I have a strong horizontal loop but not on the other. On the next pair of toe up socks, I'll try the short row heel and experiment with the wraps to see if I can get the two sides to be identical. With one sock inside the other and backwards, too, it was just too hard to compare sides and I gave up trying to wrap my brain around it.

Problem two, I somehow picked up an extra stitch at some point, so I have a weird YO in the heel of one sock. I don't have an extra stitch now but it is in the inside sock, so I have to turn everything inside out to get a good look at it, so I'll wait to analyze it later. I'll probably just sew up the gap with a little sewing thread. Since it's on the bottom of the foot, who cares anyway, right?

As for the technique, it's an interesting novelty but I'm not sure I'll make it a regular in my arsenal. I'd have to get much better at short row heels and I need to do that one sock at a time, first. I also am not a cuff down girl, never having gotten terribly comfortable with the Kitchener stitch. I love my toe up and if I could figure out how to do 2 in 1 toe up, I might give it a try. I'm also a lace sock lover, which I don't think could be done in this technique.

On the homefront, DS recovered from the flu. Unfortunately, his poor performance at the hockey try outs resulted in placement on the C team but I'm actually pleased with it. He does have a very tough school schedule this year and I think having a little less hockey pressure is a good thing. He can relax and have a little more fun on the C team, instead of having to push all the time to keep up with the higher level of players and competition on the B level team. He's one of the best skaters on the team, so he has the potential of being a leader on the ice, too, which could be a great learning experience in itself. He's a little bummed but he loves the game enough to keep playing, regardless. So onward and upward.

And on a fibery note, he was a little jealous that I gave the L&V socks to DD#1. He wants a pair of hand knit socks and liked the purple yarn. Not having any purple yarn in my stash, I guess I'll just have to go shopping for some purple yarn to make him some socks for Christmas. To quote a favorite pod caster - "Sqeeeee"!