Yarn Along 2016.36: Challenges and Indecision

Joining Ginny today for this week's Yarn Along.  The weather is depressing; very grey and imposing, with a severe storm supposedly on it's way shortly. It's not just the fact that the sky is so dull that makes it depressing; it's also that I have seven acres of hay down that we were planning to bale this afternoon because there wasn't supposed to be any chance of rain until Thursday afternoon back when we decided, on Sunday, to cut it.  Of course the dew last night was heavy and the hay isn't dry enough to bale right this minute, and so I watch the storm clouds gather, knowing I am going to lose my long awaited second cutting.  First the summer was too dry, and even though we took first cutting in early June, the hay field didn't even grow hardly at all until late August when we got cooler weather and regular rains again. Now, that my second cutting is down, it is going to get drenched, and the next five days have rain or chance of rain in the forecast.  So, most likely not going to end up very good hay at all by the time it dries enough to bale.

That's one challenge.  Another is the heel flap of the sock I actually worked on this week.  It just didn't seem right as I was knitting it, and I stopped several times to check different things.  Had I somehow gotten a smaller needle mixed in?  Was I unusually tense while knitting?  Why did it seem that the stitches on the heel flap were so much more difficult to knit than they should be?  Was I misunderstanding the pattern?  (It isn't the usual heel I use; I decided to follow the pattern on this one exactly as written, and not substitute in my favorite heel.)

No, the needles are all the correct size. No, my tension isn't off. This heel is definitely not turning out right. It's so tight, so not stretchy, and seems so short for a man's sock (heck, short for a woman's sock).  I'm doing the pattern right.

Then why isn't this feeling and looking like a heel flap should?!? Maybe it's the yarn, for as I get closer to turning the heel, suddenly my yarn is feeling springy and squishy again, as it did in the leg portion.

the gold section is stiff and non-stretchy compared to the rest

So now I'm undecided. I'm pretty sure it's a 'bad' spot in the yarn that is the problem; a length of yarn that is spun tighter and slightly thinner than the rest of the skein.  Do I go back, cut this portion out, and then begin the heel flap again as written?  Do I go back, leave this portion of yarn in, and re-knit the heel using a different pattern (my go-to heel pattern which is a bit stretchier)?  Do I go back, cut the yarn out, and then knit the heel in my go-to pattern?

Oh, I'm so undecided!  Especially since this is self-striping yarn and I'm worried how to make the second sock match the first one if I cut a section of yarn out.  And, if I cut a section of yarn out, then cut the same section out of the second sock in order to match them, will I have enough yarn to finish the second sock?  Too many options and potential outcomes to weigh.

Meanwhile, the afflicted sock sits in time out in my knitting bag while I work on the Stylish Squares lapghan instead.  I'm getting closer to finishing; just one more section (oh, about 56 rows) and then 5 rows of seed stitch border to go.  It will definitely be done in time for DD2's birthday.

As if the weather and the hay and the naughty sock heel weren't enough challenges for now, our computer is acting up.  The cooling fan doesn't work most of the times we've had the computer on in the past couple of days.  Which means it's in danger of overheating and getting fried.  Being as it's a nearly 5 year old laptop, do we bother with trying to replace the fan mechanism?  Or do we just start shopping for a new computer (which really isn't in the budget currently)?

I haven't yet figured out how to blog using my phone, which is making the computer dilemma even more frustrating.  I have so many posts I'd like to write, and actually have a bit of time to write them.