sock issues...

I’ve been working on my next KS project on my LK150 mid gauge – it’s a hand-selected stitch pattern (tell you more about that another time)  and I usually like to break it up with something else, like some other project on my standard gauge machine but was having a hard time settling on what I wanted to do next. Some upcoming birthdays sent me to my LYS for some sock yarns – didn’t find anything too exciting – settled on a ‘safe’-looking, denimy-shades, 100g/448m ball of King Cole ‘Zig Zag’ – it’s a 50% superwash wool, 50% nylon combo that I thought may be better wearing because of the higher nylon content. It’s a bit finer than what I have been using lately (Schafpate Opal, 425m/100g) so I went down a dot on the stitch size on each bed. While I was in sock mode, I reknit a few pairs that have been holed-up,  (get it?) waiting for new feet and it reminded me of an email I had last week. My friend Peg, who admits to being a hand-knit sock snob of the past, recently completed her first pair of my ‘warm up socks’ and after getting over the heel shortrowing,  told me she really liked them, especially the snugging up of the cuff as you get closer to the heel. And she was getting over her issues with the seam in the rib thing  as ‘it sure is sweet to have a pair of socks in less than a day!’
But now she is asking me if I’ve ever tried the slip stitch heel in machine knitting... I replied, ‘I don't really know what a slip stitch heel is - is it kind of 1X1 slip on the heel area, only to perhaps thicken or re-enforce the heel? if so, I wouldn't bother - I find the biggest problem where these socks wear out first is in the toe area - just my personal experience... so I save the ribbed cuff and re-knit the entire foot’ (see blog, Happy Feet, Apr 14/09).  
Peg confirmed my take on the slip stitch heel and promised she’d get over that too!
Just wanted to add a bit to that – I hang the back of the sock, placing the seam at 0 on the main bed, working out to 18-0-18 ns and then hang the front bed – the time you save on doing the easy part on the main bed makes up for no time saved trying to do the rib bed deal first and at least you know where the end sts on each bed go…

Sidebar – Last week I got my first order to what I think of as the only famous zip code – the only one I know anyway – 90210 – yes, it is Beverley Hills, CA. (Paypal said it was a confirmed address!) When I took the package to the post office in Grand Portage, MN, I pointed it out to Mary, the postmistress - she laughed and said, huh! I thought that was  fictional!