Blue Mood

I like knitting socks, and have only worn my hand knits for the last three or so years. Now some of my favorite socks are wearing out, and are being repurposed as sunglass cases or covers for my digital camera. Except today my camera slid out of the hole in the worn out sock and fell on the sidewalk. I've noticed that my Opal socks, after years of wear, have really taken a beating, and still look good. I do have a preference for the sport weight yarn. As much as I like to make and wear socks, I also like them finished fairly quickly. Size 1 or smaller needles just don't make it for me. Imagine my delight when last month, I found sport weight Opal at Wool and Company in Geneva, IL. I'm knitting a design from Simply Sensational Socks. I totally hate this heel. While I understand the bullseye effect in the striping yarn, this was probably the most awkward maneuver I have ever done in heel making. I switched to the two circular needles method to make it more comfortable, and it only helped a little. I though I would continue that way down the instep. I never have ladders when I knit on double points, but I have them with two circs. If you look in the photo where the cables cross, you can see the big gaping hole that I'm going to have to fix. I hate the shape of the heel too. It looks exactly like a toe. For the mate, I'm going to do a different heel--probably Lucy Neatby's short row garter stitch. So, the socks are not going to match. I don't care. I should rip out that heel, but I think that's even going to be more of a pain. I'm liking the yarn though, and have expectations that it will wear as well as the other Opal socks I have. I've sought some out on eBay, and will be on the lookout for it at Stitches Midwest.