Both of these pairs of socks are inspired by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts book Simple Socks. This is the first time I had encountered the short row heel (and toe). Now, I have been knitting pretty consistently since the age of four which is, for me, a very very long time ago, and I was pretty cocky about my abilities. But I found Priscilla's directions to be not so very simple after all. I stubbornly persevered, muttering under my breath and occasionally cursing a bit, and finally figured out what was supposed to be happening. These two pairs of socks are my first successes using her method. I used hand dyed yarns which, with Fair Isle patterning, give the wonderful effect of being far more complicated than they are. I am a big fan of apparent complexity when it is closely allied to actual simplicity.

So I guess these socks turned out to be simple in at least once sense after all.