Knitting Zen

I ripped out the heel of this sock three times before I got out Knitting on the Road and read their instructions for a round heel. I was using the one for the Retro Sock in Socks, Socks, Socks because that was the one I used before, and I remember ripping that one out two or three times, too. I think there might be something wrong with the instructions (or more likely I just wasn't smart enough to do them right), but I didn't try to understand them, I just kept following them and couldn't figure out what was wrong.

The description in "Knitting on the Road" actually explains it in a way that makes sense, and I turned the heel without incident using it.

In the category of never being able to duplicate this in a million years, the cute little purple heel:

I hadn't knit with such small needles for awhile, and it took a little getting used to; I was intimated by the thought of using even smaller ones, so I used Size 2's. I think the fabric would benefit from being more dense, so for the next pair I'll probably go down to Size 1's. But I'm going to keep going and finish this pair so I can try them on and find out if the number of stitches was right. Although, of course, if I go down a needle size, I'll need to adjust that, too.

I was using four needles until after I turned the heel, then I switched to five, which necessitated using the chewed one. I got an email from Needles! saying that they've shipped my order, so hopefully by the first of next week I stop using the chewed one, which makes it difficult to knit without snagging the yarn.

The chewer herself:

Rough life, eh?