Socks and Stripes Forever

While watching fireworks and munching mixed grill yesterday, I had a brainwave about heels. So after the food leftovers were stowed, I found some sock yarn leftovers and cast on a cycling sock.



One problem with scrappy socks is the fear of Not Enough Yarn. To allay that concern I decided to use Merino/Tencel leftovers from two projects, Kaibashira and Split-Toe Sweethearts, and to play with stripes as well as heels.

First I tried a Priscilla Gibson-Roberts short row heel with stranded vertical stripes. Because short row heels aren't a good fit on my Frankenfeet, I added a vestigial heel flap for good measure.



I was happy with the way the stripes wrap around the heel. Short row heels usually produce wedges of color and afterthought heels produce bullseyes – these are vertical stripes. The extra heel depth afforded by the vestigial flap was perfection. But, alas, the stranding made the heel narrower – too narrow for me. So... goodbye heel #1. Ravelas!



On to heel #2. I'm really hoping my brainwave actually contained a kernel of knitterly sense and wasn't a fanciful by-product of grilling during the third heatwave of the season.