A short exploration of rows

Since last Wednesday, I have completed this:



A short-row heel, top-down! Which wasn't that hard, minus the wraps, but I'll get to that later. I've been knitting this sock pretty fast, since I can work on it while I read. I'll have to take another picture when it's not cloudy out, as the cloudy day - despite the natural light - really doesn't do the colors justice. I'm pretty much into the groove for studying for my second exam, though I think I'm a little calmer about it this time. I haven't, for example, been dreaming about the topic of whatever books I happen to be focusing on in a particular week. What a nice relief!

You might wonder about the little wooden smiley face. It's a back-rubbing device, and darned effective, too! My shoulders had been hurting much of last week, and Advil wasn't helping, heat wasn't helping; the only thing which has made a significant dent in the back pain has been that little guy right there. Highly recommended.

But now, on to the short rows. One of these things is NOT like the other.

These are images of the two sides of my short-row heel. The short rows look nothing alike. What's up with that? Did I wrap wrong? Pick up the wraps wrong? Turn wrong? (OK, so I doubt that last one.) I wasn't following any specific method of wrapping, just around and around until it was wrapped. As for picking up the wraps, I slipped the unworked stitch to the right needle and then slid the left needle under the wraps, and then I slid the stitch back to the left needle and knitted or purled together. And I got consistent results on both sides, obviously.

So far - and I've worked well past there already - it seems that the short row fits my heel nicely. (I do like the traditional look of the heel flap, though, so maybe I can work on getting it to fit more snugly). Nonetheless, I will probably try a few more short row heels, which means I'd like to clean up the short rows, if the fit still feels nice once the sock is done, on my foot, and in a shoe. Any suggestions?

It's kind of a relief to write in a straightforward manner!