To wrap or not to wrap

I am a fairly novice sock knitter. A relative newcomer to the delights of knitting on 5 needles. So far I have been coping quite well and since the advent of my Knit Picks needles fairly jogging along. Until ....... My niece gave me a Simply Knitting book Issue 21 and asked me to knit some Fancy Feet toe socks. Hey easy peasy I thought. I have made 4 knitted pairs and can tackle anything.

What do they say about pride coming before a fall? These socks have driven me nuts. I have managed to work out the constantly changing first stitch of the spiral lace ( The pattern says repeat 4 rows but when I did that the lace pattern went out of line all the time) and all was well until I got to the heel. It is a short row heel which I have not come across before and it was not very well explained. I went on the net to try to understand what a wrap was and their instructions made more sense. (I thought a wrap was a fast food delicacy from Mc D)

I have managed it but am not happy with it. One side is passable but the other side looks very amateurish. I found the whole process awkward to do. I am sure that I have used a similar type of shaping to this before but it didn't involve any wrapping. I think I will give these wrap kind of heels a miss once this pair is finished. The heel doesn't look very nice and it's not reinforced like the flap heels are. To add insult to injury the instep stitches left un knitted kept slipping off the needles (one drawback of the Knit Picks) which in a ladder spiral lace pattern is a bit *&%$. I am now on the foot bit and it is lace all around - even under the foot! I don't think I will ever knit these socks again.

The last photo is of my new designer sunglasses (well Florence and Fred from Tesco are designers aren't they?) I splashed out a fiver as I was fed up of the sympathetic glances I was getting for my eye. I am sure people thought I was a battered wife and had been punched in the eye. I am now being very Hollywood and wearing sunglasses in the rain! The eye is not quite as swollen today so I think the eye drops and antibiotics are working slowly.

I suppose I had better shake a leg and take this dog for a walk (paddle) in the rain. It's a stay in and knit kind of day today. Dull, rainy and depressing.

Edit - Just got a text that my niece Vicky's ex housemate had a baby boy by C section at 9.30am this morning. Charlie (named after her late father) weighed in at 7lbs 11ozs and Louise and Charlie are doing well. Not sure if dad Keiran made it into theatre with Louise or whether it was Vicky (her birthing partner)