WIP: still unnamed socks

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I have been so incredibly busy lately that I have no time to knit much. This is why I started working on a very simple sock recipe in DK weight yarn. Using yarn a bit thicker than sock yarn makes for faster knitting and I have been so stressed out that I am in need of the gratification provided by seeing the socks grow so fast.

Notice I am knitting two at a time? It is the first time I try this. Not so good if I want to see the socks growing fast, they grow at half the speed. So this was not the right time to try this, but oh well...

What about finishing this cardigan? Only the sleeves are left to finish and that is a much faster knit than socks! You say. And you are quite right. Except I simply do not have the mental space to do the necessary calculations to design the sleeves. By the time I have some time to knit, I am too exhausted. That is why I chose to work on a garment I do not really need to design.

That did not stop me from improvising, though. These socks are just a good example of how innovation often arises from mistakes. Needless to say that because I am always so tired in the evening, when I have time to knit, I have done a bunch of mistakes while knitting this. Here is a list:
  1. I am working toe-up, so the only non-trivial decision is when to start shaping the heel. In this case I wanted to follow a gusset recipe (with heel-flap) which I really like. Except that I started the gusset increases too late and thus was only able to do half of them. To correct this I decided to work on a standard short-row heel in addition to the gusset. Of course my heel is not standard, because it must be slightly smaller than usual. Otherwise the heel would be huge. This means that I got a very nice roomy ankle. Very nice. I'm sure I have just unvented this recipe, but I like the result.
  2. I forgot to purl on the wrong side of the heel (to be precise knit on the right side, since I am knitting Portuguese-style), so I have got a garter stitch heel. Which is also nice, for a change. I think I still prefer the standard stockinette or reinforced heel.
  3. I have also messed up the short-row stitches, as usual. I have attempted doing German short-rows, which are so simple. I do not know how I managed to mess them up. To correct this, on the second sock, I used simple wraps (no need to lift them on garter stitch). Now I have two slightly different heels, which is not as bad as it seems, it is almost unnoticeable, and I can compare two different short-row methods. The 2nd one is definitely better, but I am working on garter stitch. I always mess up the wraps when I am tired, so, if I was working stockinette, it would be awful.

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