Socks

I haven't knitted socks in years. They bore me. I currently have three single socks that I never made mates for. I have thought about wearing them anyway. I started these on our road trip two weeks ago, and by the time we returned I had 1.5 socks. I finished up sock number two a few days ago. These have been run through the wash once already. They feel a bit more soft.

These are made from two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepard's Sock in the colorway Vera. I have liked this colorway for a while, but I never resorted to getting two skeins from eBay. I saw these skeins at a great yarn shop a few weeks ago, and I decided to get them for our road trip. I knitted them toe up so I could use ever bit of the yarn, but in the end I had a bit left of both. Most of the socks that I have knit were with a slip-stitch heel. I can do that no problem. I really prefer the look of the short-row heel, or what ever this style is called, but I've never once been able to knit it without ending up with little holes at the corner. What is the trick? I think I like cuff-down socks, less to bind off, no worries about an elastic edge on the cuff. In both pictures you can see the differences in the colors. They are the same lot, but I guess hand painted yarn can't be too consistent. Does anyone actually switch back and forth between two balls for each sock?