Purple Passion


The more I play with color, the more I love Purple! It didn't used to be that way. I preferred Red for most of my life; red with black, red with navy, red with anything actually!! I even owned Red platform shoes in the 70s!! I dyed my hair with Persian Red henna & used to dance the nite away in those shoes. I even sewed a red cover for the couch - it has purple monkeys on it!!!
But, now that I'm in my declining years(snicker), I've discovered that I prefer Purple. And, of course, Fuschia, Magenta or Hybiscus with my purple! So, I've spent the evenings lately, spinning up that delicious "Purple Passion" that I bought from Aurelia at Fibre Fest this year. It's a lovely merino/silk blend that I'm hoping to knit into a top-down shawlette to keep me snug when I'm reading in bed or sitting outside with a drink in the evening! I think I like this colorway even better than the Hybiscus(bright purply pink) merino I was spinning up before I found "Purple Passion".


And I've also been working on some Opal socks. You knew there had to be some sock content in this post somewhere, didn't you??? I bought 4 balls of Opal from a friend who was making room for other goodies. I knit up the yellow Opal for the BT's mom. The Red - similar to my Ladybug socks - is knit up & in the Gift Basket as long socks & a special sporty short sock. I decided the other two balls will be for ME! ME! ME!!! The Purple will be long socks for winter. And I'm in the process of knitting up the multicolored ball. I have to admit I was surprised at how this ball turned out - I'm not sure just what I expected but I didn't expect the wild, bright stripes that I got. Not sure how I feel about it but who knows, I'm sure they'll grow on me. And Louisa, this is a Queen Kahuna heel. It's very deep & cushioned on the back & under the heel - I used the K1S1 on the central heel area. It uses short rows to form the cup once the gusset stitches are made, similar to the old flap heel. And I don't have to pick up those darned gusset stitches!!!


And here's a closeup of that heel! It took me TWO pairs of socks to finally 'GET IT'. All those rubber band markers made me crazy till I stopped, figured out the architecture of the actual sock & the heel shape within it. Then I knit it again. BOING. The lightbulb came on. And I've never looked back.

The nice thing about this heel is that you can knit it from the toe up or the cuff down. It works the same way, no matter what your direction. I know I sound like an advertisement for the Queen's book but, I've tried a number of heels. I love Jan's heel for its very simplicity & her pattern is wonderful for beginners - we taught Kathy to knit socks using her pattern!! And, I've tried other short-row heels including the Afterthought heel but they don't fit well & the socks crawl into my shoes when I walk! I always went back to the Flap heel till I found this one. Now ALL my socks are knit with this heel. The BT with his high arch & skinny heels to my Ex with his flat feet & quadruple E width, both find this style comfy & well fitting. Who am I to argue with success???