The Sock Addiction Continues: Tarn with German short row heels

This is a time-warp post, having languished in draft for years, because I mislaid my design book with the notes for a while, then found I hadn't dated them. Note to self, put dates in the book when you make notes! I think they were completed in January 2017, as they were completed before the 'Strong' Heel socks and had been worn and washed by the time I took the photo in March 2018. And now it's January 2020 and I'm just completing it, having unearthed my design book.

This was then ...
However mild this winter has been, and however impatient I've been for finer weather so that I can get out into the garden, I must admit I have been enjoying the colder weather as an excuse to wear wool socks.

They feel warm as soon as I slip them on, in a way that the commercial cotton-rich socks I would otherwise wear do not. There is an inexpressible feeling of snuggly comfort, and a few times I've taken them off when getting ready for bed, only to find half an hour later that my feet now feel too cold, and I slip some bedsocks back on. I find the warmth does wonders for reducing the arthritic pain, often stopping it altogether. I know, I'm repeating myself. If you're a fan of wool socks, you'll know what I'm talking about, and if you're not, perhaps the way I rave about them gives you a clue as to what you might be missing.

Since I'm loving them and wearing them, I reckon I'm allowed to knit myself another few pairs, to replace some of the worn-out cotton socks. The trouble is, a pair of the wool socks takes up about twice the drawer space of a pair of cotton socks, so I'll have to retire two pairs of old socks (at least) to make room for the new wool socks. Or decide I need a second sock drawer.

My 'everyday' socks are definitely my comfort zone, although they could perhaps do with some tweaks. Just so that I don't get too set in my ways, I decided to do a different heel, choosing German short rows for no particular reason.

A local shop had a lonely ball of Wendy Roam Fusion in Tarn, predominantly blues and greens plied with all sorts of other colours. The main colours tend to pool, but the plies create drifts of different coloured flecks and I love it. I was late to the party with this yarn, and, in typical fashion when I find something I like, it's now being discontinued. I looked at the yarn reviews are there were complaints about its quality. I haven't had any problems with the balls I bought, but I find it knits up 'large', as if the yarn is slightly thicker than, say the DROPS Fabel (although that grows a little on washing).

I cast on 72 stitches on my usual 2.75 mm dpns, 12 rounds k2, p2 rib and 48 rounds stocking stitch for the leg.

At this point I would normally start a Sweet Tomato Heel, so it was no problem to switch to German short rows instead. I watched some YouTube videos and found the technique quite easy and straightforward. I followed my usual shaping, using half the total number of stitches for the heel (leaving half for the instep) and then decreasing on a third of the stitches on either side of a central third. I knit clockwise and begin my rounds at the start of the heel stitches. On the last heel round, where the round starts with a double stitch, I knitted that round as the last round of the heel shaping, marking the next as the first round of the foot.
The resulting heels are quite smart with neat diagonal lines of decreases, but even though I knit tightly, the decrease line is slightly more open than I would like. The heels don't sit quite as well on my round heels as the Sweet Tomato Heel, so that remains my favourite.

Since the yarn knits up a little bigger than usual, I decreased one stitch on each side of the foot on rounds 1, 3 and 5, and knit 59 rounds for the foot. The sock fits well enough, but in a yarn which knits up smaller, I think the decreases should be on rounds 6, 8 and 10. On row 60 I decreased another single stitch each side to leave 64 stitches, redistributing them so I had 32 stitches each for the instep and sole.

I knit to round 64, then started the toe round 1 (on what would have been round 65), decreasing using SSK at the start of the heel and instep sections and K2tog at the end of the heel and instep, to reduce by 4 stitches on heel rounds 1, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, leaving 24 stitches.
Kitchener grafted toe (12/12). I noted at the time this may have been a little wide, but haven't noticed it since and Kitchener stitch of 12 instep to 12 sole stitches has become my standard.

So my plain socks pattern exploration and refinement continues.