I love the short row heel.

Back in July, I posted a picture or two of the sock I was currently knitting. That sock has since moved on to the world of "will never be finished" because I decided I didn't like the color, the shaping, or well, anything about it. Until last week (9 months later) had yet to finish a sock, despite a few more attempts at one.

Then I joined the fiber flix kal, and cast on with this:



for the RPM socks.

It was, as Aladdin and Jasmine sing (wow, I'm quoting a Disney movie), a whole new world. The socks flew! I liked the yarn! (STR in the Scottish Highlands colorway) The needles didn't drive me batty (addi turbos, of course)! And, most exciting of all, the short row heel made me feel like I might actually knit more than one pair of socks in my knitting career.

I've tried the flap heel many times, on many unfinished socks. I realize that there are legions of knitters out there that swear by them, and I think that's great. But for me, knitting the flap then having to work my way around the gusset before I can knit the instep feels like knitting h-e-double-hockeysticks.

The short row heel was just that. Short. then a heel! Before I could get frustrated, it was done, and I was zooming on to the instep. Then, all of a sudden, I had this:



And now, there's this:



Which will be two socks...a whole pair...very soon. Which is good, since they're for my friend's birthday, which falls on Thursday. She's Scottish, so I'm thinking the colorway will be just right for her.