Indecision with regards to my Sockapaloooza socks, which (alert the media!) I began to knit.

It has to do with the short-row heels. I am determined to do short row heels, because it's just what I do. Now. After lots of tears and bewilderment over wrapped short rows, I settled into a routine of yarn-over short rows, with which I am very comfortable. This produces a heel with a very smooth bend--it looks, really, like the rows of stitches just bend. On the inside however, it creates rather large loops of string. They are not loose loops, but they are long.

I was left with the impression that wrapped short rows were somehow better than YO short rows, so when Wendy miraculously began to knit socks again--just in time!--I asked her how to pick up and knit the wrapped short rows, and miraculously--just in time!--she responded with the first explanation I've ever heard that works. So, wrapped short rows I have done:



And boy, am I worried. Look at those long stitches on the outside of the heel. Can this be right? If so, is it really better than YO short rows? If not, should I tear out the heel and do it in my old YO way? Here is how it breaks down:

For KEEPING the heel as it is:
1. This is how wrapped short rows look, apparently. Lots of people do wrapped short rows. So it must be okay.
2. Wendy (miraculously!) included a closeup picture of exactly the same piece of sock anatomy today, and it has the long stitches also: Wendy's long stitches. Wendy is a knitgoddess, so what she does must be okay.
3. It would be a major pain in the patootie to take this heel out and redo it. Notice the slanting stitch of the cuff? Yeah. That involves YOs and K2togs; those don't get back on the needle easy, lemme tell you.

For RIPPING out the heel and redoing it:
1. It would be done the way I'm used to having it done.
2. There wouldn't be these long stitches on the outside.

So, any comments?

Sitting on my doorstep when I got home:



Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Parfait, Somerset, Glenwood; Socks That Rock in Cobalt Bloom.

I am so knitting the Mermaid socks for Sockapalooza.

May I say something? K2, YO, K2, K2tog.

Thank you.

I am not Yarnstorm, and I am not The Blue Blog, but goddammit, I can go to Purl:



What can I say? It was small and somehow, seeing yarn in person is not more exciting than seeing it online. Cass Street Depot, in my parents' town, is exciting because it carries a lot of wonderful yarn that I never think to look at online. Purl had Koigu, Rowan, and Blue Sky Alpacas. Almost everything there that I wanted, I have already bought. But it was a pilgrimage to be made, all the same, and I made it and I have pictures so--there. And I bought two Koigu colorways that I probably could not have bought online, which is quite lovely.

oooOOOOooo! I am so happy that I have Soda Shoppe Socks!



I love them passionately, curly picot edges and all. You can't imagine how long I've been dying to take that picture of them with the Brachs Sundaes candy.

Stats: Toe-up socks. Turkish cast on, short-row heels. Trekking XXL color 126. 2.25mm needles. Picot hems!

Now that that's over, I should either knit the second Embossed Leaves sock, or begin on Sockapaloooza.

Empire is going well. I am half through the first pattern repeat. It is a very intense sort of pattern to knit--there is an awful lot to pay attention to, in every single row.

Picture, as a promise:



It's my first tubular cast-on ever, and it's so fabulous that it almost makes me feel patient and tolerant about 1x1 ribbing (something I have never done before). It really does look clean and professional. Only one warning to the uninitiated: it is advertised as a "very stretchy" cast-on, which I suppose it is, but it is not as stretchy as the ribbing that follows. Just so you're warned. Otherwise, I'm in seventh heaven over it.

I am all set to have a Very Tough Day. On top of my usual double-time consulting, I have to crapshoot a hysterical Russian's nonexistent crises, grade quizzes and assignments for my class, and try to get my damned kitchen clean--this time, in a mopping-the-floor kind of way. I hate trying to clean kitchen floors. It's so depressing.

I'm so depressed over this Very Tough Day that I departed from my salads-or-curry-for-lunch, unadorned-protein-and-steamed-veggies-for-dinner, oatmeal-when-ravenous routine, and made myself French toast for lunch. This is very special French toast. Please pay attention.

Kat's Very Tough Day Emergency French Toast

Ingredients: two slices of your standard sandwich bread, two eggs, a splash of milk, a splash of vanilla, a shake of cinnamon, 1 tbsp butter, some sugar, and a handful of pecans.

Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon in a shallow dish and set bread in it to soak. Meanwhile, heat your largest skillet with the butter. When butter is melted, put soaked bread in and sprinkle the tops with sugar. Now put the handful of pecans into what is left of the egg and milk mixture, shake them up a little, them spoon them out and onto an empty spot in the pan. Pour a spoonful of sugar over them. Turn pecans frequently until as sticky, crunchy, or caramelized as you like, then remove them from pan--they will probably need to come out of the pan before the toast is finished. Turn toast when the bottoms are laced with brown, cook till down sides are the same, scooting them around the pan's axis to soak up any leftover sugar and butter.

Pile pecans on top of toast, and enjoy. No syrup necessary.

Yarn Porn

For the tipped Cashsoft sweater (thinking of making Amelia's pattern Pippa).

Ground: And tip:

And for the stranded colorwork sweater (I think I will do a standard yoke sweater)

Ground: And colorwork:

Began knitting Empire, this evening. Tubular cast-on rocks my world. Photos tomorrow.