Short Row Heel??

Two knitting posts in one week? It is almost like this is a knitting blog, weird.

I am working on PJ's toe up socks and I have made it to the short row heel. I am a bit confused by the directions at this point.

I find most of the time when I am confused about a pattern it is because I don't really understand the shaping and I just need to have faith and follow the directions without questioning to much and see what evolves. Unless of course my project begins to look like a mess.

I think I have a mess. The pattern tells me to place a stitch marker at the end of each short row to help me keep track of where I am at. The stitch markers are only adding to my confusion, they are just one more thing to juggle while try to learn a new technique. Secondly they are short rows on the heel of a sock, as I understand it that would one less stitch on every row until I reach the desired length and then I need to make the rows gradually longer to shape a sort of cup for the heel to fit into. I need markers for this? In between every stitch??

I will tink back to the start of the heel, remove all the stitch markers (they aren't helping me at this point) and then I will google 'short row heel', I will come up with a site (like This One) and fry to figure it out using different directions. The same pattern, just different wording and some photos. I already tried a great book that Shannon gave me for Christmas, I helped a bit, but I think I need more pictures for this one.

If surfing doesn't do the trick, then I pull the Ace out my sleeve. I call the knitting guru, the needle master, the woman who is changing the world one knitter at a time; I will call...MOM. She has magic powers, she can see through the holes in the phone, she seems to know how my mind works and exactly what I am doing wrong and somehow talks this visual learner through the fix.

I am not sure how she does it but I think I am on to her. I think she has made every knitting mistake in the book and therefore has figured out how to fix them all herself. I think she remembers being a knitting beginner and when I read her my pattern, she nods her head and knows exactly what this knitting greenhorne has done to get all tied up. She rocks. Thank you mom ahead of time for the phone call you may be receiving this afternoon.

I am in a hurry to figure out this heel, I want to use the technique on my Olympic Socks. It would not be an Olympic challenge if I did not pick a pattern I was new too would it? I also need to swatch the yarn I want to use and do some math. My Olympic socks are Debbles birthday gift, so I need to figure the measurements for a size 7 1/2 sock.