Decided during the loooonnnng pre-holiday commute home that my holiday present to all of you was going to be a photo of my bony, haven’t-painted-my-toenails-since-August foot. Had plenty of time to debate touching up my toes before I posted it, but I want to be authentic with you. You get a lot of time for personal contemplation on the highway home. Nothing quite so bad as the I-64 sixty-plus car pileup, though. Makes you realize that hanging out on 95 with all your new best friends is a picnic in comparison.
The first Gold Digger is nearly done, should knock it off tonight. I’ve noticed that the fleegle heel is a bit huge on me. The pattern has you increase stitches for the heel in a triangular gusset, then decrease for the instep and bottom of the foot rapidly in a straight line. Neat concept, but it reminds me of why I almost always knit a short-row heel, instead. A short-row heel makes a much smaller heel that’s more form-fitting, and uses less yarn. I considered switching to a short-row but wanted to stick to the pattern as written. Kind of defeats the purpose of New Directions in Sock Knitting if you wind up not going in the new direction.
Also, if I knit as many pattern repeats for the foot as is written, the finished sock would be about five inches longer than my actual foot. My row gauge is much larger than the pattern called for. I tend to not pay attention to the row gauge, because the length of a sock can easily be adjusted. Stitch gauge can be adjusted as well, but it usually involves adjusting the stitch pattern. Something to be said for the fleegle heel, and most heel-flap methods is that by the time you’ve decreased the gusset stitches and gotten back to the original stitch count, you’re about half-way done with the foot of the sock.
Happy holidays, if you’re into that sort of thing. Wishing you yarn, books, wine, and warmth.