Conquering the Dreaded Heel!!

I knit in the Continental Style, I discovered today. I was taught to knit by a friend in college, who was taught by her German grandmother. I always thought I just knitted the German way. Turns out, it's called "Continental." I feel fancy!

So what does Continental mean? It means I hold my yarn in my left hand, when I knit, like this:

(Please ignore the 3rd needle. And the hand that would normally be on the right hand needle, is holding the camera.)

The nice thing about the Continental method, is that the yarn is so handy to wrap around your needle, when you need it. You don't have to use your hand to yarn over; you just flick your left hand a little, and whip it onto your right needle. It's barely a movement. In a fraction of a trice, you go from the photo above, to the photo below.

Okay, so on to the dreaded heel! Here's what I've done thus far. I must admit, it doesn't look very appealing in this photo, does it? Rather an ugly sock. She's much more attractive in real life :)

Turning this heel -- Oh. My. Word. I had to walk down to Hunter's house for help, TWICE. Those directions! The cacophony of needles! The multiplicity of yarn! The "slip one" and "pass over" and "turn." You'd think I was at ballroom dancing class! I was thoroughly lost, until Hunter guided me back onto the correct path.

Here, the finished heel. You would not believe how hard it is to do this the first time.

Witness my nearly immaculate stitches. They really are more even than I ever dreamed they would be. I'm making progress!