Lullaby Blue Socks

I finished a pair of socks last night. I named them after the colourway from Knit Picks, the yarn is their Stroll Handpainted 462 yards. 

I love blues and these are really blue! I still have tons of yarn left too. Enough to make another pair, certainly lots to use in my Epic Blanket.

The pattern is really a tutorial found here on how to do short row heels/toes. I started with a cast on of 64 stitches and did ribbing for about 16 rounds. I used my favorite size of dpns for knitting socks, 2.75mm.

The heel itself was easy to do, had those pesky holes on the first sock though (when you finish the heel and go back to knitting the foot). It was an easy fix on the second sock (just pick up an extra stitch on the first round and knit it together with the next stitch on the next round).

What I like about these heels:
- they knit up fast! No flap or turning the heel or gussets...
- the patterning stays the same throughout the sock, no weird pooling or break up of stripes
- it looks slick...

What I don't like about these heels:
- picking up double wraps on little dpns isn't much fun
- the heel doesn't fit as well as I wanted it to
- the leg portion of the sock ended up shorter than I wanted because the heel isn't as long as it would be if I had done a flap
- and the same for the foot, I had to knit it longer to make up for the gussets

So would I knit this style heel again? Ya, probably. I could see using it for self striping yarns. But I still like the heel flap/turn/gusset style better, at least for fit.

I'm debating what my next sock project is going to be. I've knit 7 pairs now this year. I have so many scraps  that don't fit into my blanket theme that I may do a true scrappy patchwork pair.

On the other hand I'm ready for a sock challenge. Maybe something with lots of cables or twisted stitches or lace. I'll let you know what I chose when I cast on...