I've found my calling

Socks. Especially now that the "mystery of the magical heel turn" has been solved. All these years I've been blindly following patterns stitch by stitch, not understanding what I was doing, and somehow never getting anything that even remotely looked like the picture of the pattern. Then I learned toe-up and afterthought heels. YAY!! Pretty socks I could accomplish without headaches. BUT, they all had to be gifts, because my duck feet apparently don't like afterthought heels, and the heel twists around so badly that it ends up on top of my foot. Not very comfortable. Socks from patterns did it too, but not quite as badly.

WELL... since I misplaced my pattern for a toe-up sock with a heel flap somewhere in my death closet, I googled for one, and lo and behold, found this: Mimknits'

Better-fitting* Toe-up Heel Flap Tutorial

YAY! Not only do I suddenly understand what all those stitches do, so I can replicate them on different numbers of stitches and different sizes of socks, but I can fudge the numbers to accomodate for skinny heeled duck feet like mine, or big square flat heeled feet like Rick's! (Sorry Rick, loves ya, but you could wear boxes without soxes)

Oh yeah, and I've finally gotten my singles the right size for sock yarn. Superfine Laceweight, no problem. A tiny bit bigger, and there goes sportweight. URGH! I've been so sick of having yarn that is too fine to walk on or else too big to fit into a pair of shoes, or else having to spin an extra 33% to make a 3 ply yarn. Yes, I know, 3 ply should be more durable, but patience isn't always one of my virtues. Especially when it comes to fibery stuff.

Hence my calling. I can knock off a pair of socks in a few days. Instant gratification. Mittens are great, but I only need so many pairs of mittens. And as for gifts, mittens get lost so quickly, and my heart breaks so easily. Stop laughing. It does. Scarves are BORING. Maybe some day I'll learn to enjoy making hats. Since then 80's huge hair days are over, I can wear hats again without fear - or taking along a complete salon-in-a-bag.

Until then, socks rock.