Beginnings

This heel uses the Eye of the Partridge technique, a bit more feminine, but just as sturdy as the standard flap heel.

I have been, over the years, an unsuccessful blogger. I don’t even know how many blogs I’ve started with the same zeal I begin a new gym routine that will be sure to get my into bikini shape within weeks, only to fall out of posting and caring, along with skipping the gym.

However, this time I think I might make it work. Though I am a knitter of limited resources and can’t buy all the thick, soft sweater yarn or even afford to make scarves very often, a single skein of sock yarn is often within my budget.

After months of wishing and hoping I would someday acquire the knitting skills to take on socks, I launched into my first pair as a gift for my mom. (The fact that they are a gift was sure to keep me knitting, rather than adding another UFO to my already crowded shelves.)

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that – along with some good beer and encouragement from the Yarn Harlot (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee), knitting socks isn’t that hard. Not only is it not very hard, but it’s addictive and rather exciting. Turning a heel seems like a giant accomplishment, though after waving my sock around for awhile explaining to my husband that he should be very impressed, I began to feel more humble about the act. After all, I did use a pattern.

The pattern was chosen after the yarn, and the color after the pattern, which worked out better than could have been expected. I love lace and had access to Berroco Comfort DK (DK/Sport) at my favorite local yarn shop, Loopy Knit/Crochet. After searching Ravelry for appropriate – and free – patterns, I decided a nice purple would work well with the natural, water-type theme of the socks and my mom’s personality. The socks are River Rapids by Sockbug.

I learned several things during my first foray into sock knitting:

1. My Barnes and Noble Nook stores pattern PDFs wonderfully and paper is so 20th Century.
2. Magic Loop may not be as elegant as DPNs, but is extremely easy to learn with the help of some YouTube videos and turning a heel on two needles beats the hell out of three or four.
3. Turning a heel is exciting and gratifying.
4. Grafting a toe with kitchener stitch is about the only thing more exciting and gratifying than turning a heel.
5. It is possible to love an acrylic/nylon yarn.
6. It’s so possible to love than yarn, that you buy more to make yourself a pair of socks next.

Completely done, with Nook light in the background. River Rapids sock pattern by Sockbug