Breakthrough moment

Ok, I just had a breakthrough moment with my trekking socks that I had to post.

I've had the heel flap done for about a week now and have been dreading the whole turning the heel portion of sock knitting for quite some time. I guess you can say it intimidated me, as I couldn't figure it out. How does it turn? How do you exactly do that? I just didn't get it. That was probably why I've been taking my time getting to this point, as I was in no rush to attack this new technique in my sock knitting adventure. It probably didn't help that I was looking at two patterns at the same time and kinda incorporating both of them into my sock (NOT recommended, btw). But, I didn't have a choice, because when one pattern didn't make sense to me, I had another to read that explained the next process in easier to understand text for me. UNTIL I GOT TO TURNING THE HEEL. I read the pattern(s), attempted what I thought were the instructions on the pattern, but ended with some kinda crazy whacked out mess. What was supposed to be a relaxing lunch hour at work knitting brought instead stressed out bumminess, thinking I got this far into my first sock and that I'd have to frog it.

But I just laid off the sock for a day or two then got back to it this evening. One positive note out of the mess was that I've learned to tink AND know what I was actually doing, which is of course very important to know in knitting. Everyone's heard the "you learn from your mistakes" phrase at some point in their lives, but for my knitting, it helped me feel more comfortable in knowing how to read my stitches and knowing how to correct them. I was on a good pace in identifying and correcting my mess until it was back to the last row of the heel flap. I FINALLY found a website with clear as day visual and written instructions that I was able to follow without any hiccups or tilting-of-the-head-to-the-side-and-say-huh? moments and got this:

Dudes, check that craziness out - I FRIGGIN TURNED A DAMN HEEL! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?????? I, yeah ME.TURNED.A.HEEL. It's just crazy, I'm tellin ya. I had to run into the bedroom to show Bear who was online gaming and interrupt his shooting to show him what I had done. He was pretty impressed and was able to identify what it was. I am so ecstatic you just don't know! So I snapped a photo and ran over to the laptop to post of my super huge breakthrough moment. w00w00w00w00w00w00w00! Ok, I think I'm calm now :)

Now.... after all of that madness, all's I gotta say is: WHY DO PATTERNS JUST ASSUME THE KNITTER WOULD KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT OR EXPECT YOU TO KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT IF IT'S NOT EVEN DOCUMENTED AS A STEP ON THE PATTERN? Is this just a gripe for a beginning knitter as myself or is it the patterns that I've selected? If it's just me being a beginner, then I need to get a "sock knitting pattern reading for dummies" so it's all in simple English, and documents ALL steps (including those that one would assume you'd know you have to do but didn't bother to document on the pattern). I mean for cryin out loud, a friggin' can of corn even has instructions (next time read your labels, you'll see I'm not kidding): "open can, empty contents, heat through and enjoy". What's another detailed step or two to add onto the pattern for us new knitter folk? But enough about my griping, because I got past the part of sock knitting I was scared of and I came out triumphant :) heehee

Well, it's time to go to bed.... here's a photo of the moon out of my living room window. I love when you can see a full moon out of it, though this isn't a full moon of course. Good night.