ETA on 1/26/12 - These are my favorite pair of socks. They are warm and soft, haven’t pilled, and are tough wearing unlike some of my more expensive wool socks.

Cast on 64 stitches using long-tail cast on method. Knit a 1” 1x1 ribbing, slipped the knit stitches on the last round, then switched to a 3x1 rib knit for leg. Before switching to heel flap, I slipped the 3 knit stitches for the heel flap to make a smoother transition between heel fabric and leg.

I used TechKnitter’s trick of holding the three stitches on both edges of the instep together with a safety pin to prevent a hole at the top of gusset. Seemed to work!

Picked up outside loop of chained (slip) stitches on gusset. Don’t like the look so with the other pair I’ll pick up both loops of the chain.

Continued ribbing over instep, and slipped three knit rib stitches on last row before beginning toe to make for smooth transition. Looks nice! Finished first sock on 10/13.

With the second sock, I’m casting on over 2 #1 needles because the other sock feels a wee bit tight at the opening.

I normally love expensive sock yarn, but this Red Heart sock yarn is actually quite nice to knit with and wears well. Plus, it’s cheap especially with a 40% coupon from Michaels.