#2 The Fleegle Heel

I'm using the fancy schmancy yarn for this pair of socks. 395 yds. 100% merino.

Madeline Tosh in Mansfield's Garden Party. 

Here it is caked up and ready to make the pattern, by the book from The Sock Project. You may be aware that I rarely if ever follow a pattern but that is the way I am approaching this project so that I am semi-assured it will turn out. 

I've cast on 56 stitches and am using the Turkish cast-on which starts at the toe. This is relatively new to me, but already it has proved to be the easiest cast on ever. The toe was formed using yarn over increases, which is also new to me for socks and it is just wonderful and almost invisible. FYI, my usual cast on is 48 stitches so this will be quite a bit larger. Size 2 Addi 24" circulars, using Magin Loop technique.

Here is the Fleegle heel which is triangular and quite an ingenious design. Nothing tricky, easily memorized and quite fast to knit. And no Kitchener stitch in the whole sock!

After knitting the heel I could try on the sock. 

O dear.

At least two inches too long. I followed the directions exactly, with the minor modification of using a size 2 instead of a size 1 needle thus changing the gauge. But, but, but...it fits everywhere but the length.

(I must say that the pattern was wonderfully written and illustrated, and my goofs are simply my own.)

There is a solution of course which is one of the things I love about knitting. Rip out the heel and then rip away at least 1.5" off the foot and knit the heel again.

Second try. Much better. 

So much for following the measurements in the book. When the heel is finished, it's just the leg left to knit and I went for a 7" ribbed cuff.

Here's the finished pair. Lovely yarn to knit, just as smooth on the needles as one would want. Yay! I'm glad I got this yarn at the estate sale otherwise I might never have purchased it full price.

And a close up of the Fleegle heel. I would make these socks again, and use fewer stitches and they would fit me better. I will no doubt offer these for sale come the autumn when this sock project nears the end. 

And here is the size difference of my normal sock compared to the one from the pattern (minus my gauge mistakes.) The Fleegle Heel sock foot measures 9.75" in length and my blue sock is like 7.5" long. 

Starting The Sock Project

#1 Cherry Vanilla

Start: June 11

Finish: June 13

Yarn: My hand dyed Punta Arenas 100% Merino Superwash Hard twist

Pattern: Weekend shortie socks a free pattern, cuff down

Needles: I tried all my different needles in size 2 or 1, including dpns and circulars in order to determine which I enjoyed the most. The jury is still out. 

Listened to: The Widow by John Grisham, which was just ok until it got to the murder, (that's just me) when it picked up steam and I got into it.

Drank: Decaf coffee from Aldi with sugar free Hazlenut creamer. 

   

      My bin of dyeable sock yarns. The largest collection of any yarn I own. Must dye more often.

The first pair is the basic sock I initially learned to knit and which I rarely make anymore, but I thought I ought to get back to basics, so there they are. 

Since I have already learned all the details of making these, I instead tried out all the different needles I own and tried to decide which were my favorite. No final decision has been made as I am awaiting another set of needles to add to the zillions I have collected over the years and see which rates a gold star. 

The heel on these socks consist of a heel flap, a heel turn and a gusset. Pretty easy once they become familiar and very nice fitting.  The back of the heel is 'reinforced'  to prevent wearing out faster, but my socks never wear out there, but at the bottom of the foot, so it seems unnecessary to me. 

OK I have started and already I am thinking my brain has come to life.

Going grocery shopping without my written list and I remembered everything this time. Knitting is such good memory work. 

Emerging: Melody 2.0

While doom scrolling on Instagram I stopped to watch a short video post from a knitter who just fell down the rabbit hole with sock knitting. Aha! I remember that same feeling when I learned to knit socks and often got up in the middle of the night to finish a cuff or a toe. It is so addictive and sole satisfying (get it?)  to make a pair of socks. Fast and gratifying.  And that led me to Youtube to rewatch a real sock knitting addict talk about her new designs and feel that rush with her of loving the project. Hmmm. Could this get me back on the horse to begin being creative again?

I know I had several old sock starts sitting in project bags and decided to first finish those and then challenge myself to try some new techniques that would broaden my repertoire. I also alerted a student that I was ready to teach her socks if she had time this summer. We meet on the 12th and we'll see how far we get.

Her birthday is the 13th so I got her this book, and then ordered one for me and a different one from the same author. Summer Lee.

This one has all the directions for beginners and challenging patterns for those of us who have an inflated ego.

 I have made a zillion pairs in the years since I began and even created my own designs. But as with all knitting there are endless variations on construction, patterning, and fit, and I want to try everything, before my brain wears out. I love the fact that this idea has lit a flame and I will have something creative to do with all the sock yarn in my stash, plus the new yarn I just ordered (shame on me). 

From left to right: The basic sock as I learned it. Then the afterthought heel where you cut into the heel and pull out a row and then pick up stitches from there and knit the heel. Then the forethought heel where you use waste yarn to knit the place where the heel will be and later come back undoing the waste yarn and putting those stitches on the needle to knit the heel. The last pair are my own design Peppermint Toes, which I knit 16 years ago.  Here are some of the projects from people who have used my pattern.

 This pair just got washed and is blocking on sock blockers. It is the original pattern I learned in 2001. I'm going to clear a drawer out just for socks and make a check list of all the new techniques I want to try and patterns I want to learn. I am listening (on Libby) to John Grisham's The Widow as I knit. This is gonna be a great summer. I will still be a bit of a hermit, but my time will be fuller and probably less napping will happen. 

The Aldi Diet

Along with healing my mind I am also choosing to eat better. And working on having a single woman's refrigerator. 

I found this really good bread ($4) from Aldi and of course these wonderful tomatoes which are almost as good as real home grown, but available all year around. They are just the right size and when I slice them there is no waste. Love that. 

My meals are thus: 

Breakfast is a mix of plain cherrios mixed 50/50 with plain bran flakes, and maybe some strawberries or walnuts or if nothing else is available some mixed dried raisins and cranberries. Oat milk and a cuppa, either tea or decaf with sugar free creamer.

My lunch is a can of tuna, made into tuna salad with mayo and relish and maybe green onion. Two slices of that great bread and two tomatoes sliced to top it. Open faced. Maybe some strawberries on the side. 

That's it. No dinner. Am I kidding ? Nope. That tuna salad sandwich might be switched with egg salad or ham salad but generally that is sufficient. I eat lunch between 2pm and 4pm and that is satisfying and nothing after that is necessary except maybe a cuppa.

The kitchen stays much cleaner.

I am never hungry with this diet. There are no more cookies in the house, and no chips or snacky things. I stopped drinking alcohol and eating ice cream. If there is a birthday or holiday I eat like everyone else and regret it, but go right back to my single girl eating.

What I realized is that there is sugar built into everything and that was what made me get hungry and binge eat.  Without it I don't have those cravings. I use an Equal-like substitute and I stopped baking, which means I have three big cabinets full of baking supplies that are just taking up space. 

Of course this was made easy for me because I don't have anyone else to feed. I've become smug. 

I am not weighing myself as I know that to be a trap, but I can tell when my clothes are more comfortable and I recently went to the thrift store and bought two pairs of jeans that actually fit and are not monsterously huge. 

This was all a hard lesson to (re)learn. I kept throwing out food that I thought I was going to cook, or did cook and then didn't eat and then it became a science product. What a waste! 

So I am eating like this and not caring a whit about what I have given up. Along with my mental health retreat, my watchword is Less is More!

This just in...

Not that I needed a name for it, but what I have been experiencing is called

Emotional exhaustion

Duh. Of course. 

This isn't mourning, and it isn't sadness, it is stress fatigue. 

Healing takes time. Peace and quiet and days, weeks or months without stress is necessary and is not something to feel guilty about. 

Well, I'm glad I found a name for it and that helps me see why I suddenly hit a wall and just couldn't go on anymore being who I had been.  And forgiving who I became when I ran out of the ability to be patient and sympathetic with a mentally and physically ill husband and a flooded house and the financial stress of repairs and the feeling that I had gotten us into this situation by not trusting my gut when I should have...but I was out of touch with that self because of the aforementioned emotional exhaustion.

All that is all over now.  I can breathe. I can sleep. I can thank God.  I can let the dust settle and be repaired.

It has been raining consistently over the last week and that is just my favorite thing. The garden is loving it too. No drought after all. Hurray!

Ok Already!

Hello Gang,

I finally closed on my old house on Friday and it feels great to be a one home owner again. And to have only one set of utility bills, phew. The house sold to a lovely single young lady and I am glad every crazy thing about that house got fixed for her so she can live happily there. She loves the flowers that are blooming currently. 

And now, well, I am really in the groove of solitude and loving every minute. Peace and quiet. Yaaaaay!

I don't have plans but occasionally daydream about travel but immediately talk myself out of it. I have traveled a lot in my career and it is even worse at airports now, so nevermind. I might visit my brother in Missouri but again he is always traveling for work, so that might be delayed indefinitely. 

In the meantime I decided I could lose some weight and have been eliminating things and already I can tell the difference. I hate diet talk but being on this diet means less kitchen clean up so that is another plus. NO I won't be exercising. 

The library is close and I have six books to read on my deck sanctuary, mostly mysteries of course but not so many noir as I had been wallowing in. 

There are stirrings of going through my collected yarn, fabric and art supplies and winnowing out the excess, but I don't feel quite motivated enough to actually start. 

I do get out a bit more now, and enjoyed my niece's 31st birthday party last week at my sister's, and of course I see friends at church, but still I am not accepting invitations and everyone knows it who has asked. Just for now. 

Working it out

It is possible to do nothing for days and the world does not implode.

 Being super busy translated for me into avoiding real life. 

Being alone with my thoughts did not make me lonely. 

Thinking sometimes happens at 3am, and solutions may or may not appear.

My future does not have to be decided right this minute.

I learned how to say no without apologizing, or offering excuses. I just said, I am not accepting invitations at this time,  I'll let you know when I am ready to be social again.

Nobody was upset by this.

Reading on my chaise lounge on my deck is better than a week at a spa, and requires no packing.

Recognizing and being thankful for where I am, and what I have, and how healthy I am becoming, and how much better I am sleeping and eating, and not worrying, but praying more regularly, is how I have spent my time.

Not sewing, not painting, not knitting, not cooking, and not even washing dishes for days, is just OK.

This sounds like a list of negatives, and yet it is like turning the corner to the right street after having been on an entirely different journey for years.

 I have entertained myself with a novel a day and that is a lot of sitting, but surprisingly, my feet don't hurt and my back doesn't hurt and I don't get hungry and my legs, hands and toes are getting tan. 

I can tell I am coming back to life because I bought a new Dirt Devil vac and cleaned up all the lingering dust puppies under my bed.

My hair grew into a bush so I went and got a haircut yesterday, and this morning I (laughingly) put on mascara by using the magnifying mirror, but my upper lids are so droopy that they hid the lashes anyway. O well.

I have no plans, no deadlines, no expectations, and I am going to try keeping it that way for a long time.