Stocking stuckings

I am making progress on Sam's stocking. But as I expected I hit a snag. I got to the point where I needed 4 DPN's. Thankfully I had enough circular needles that I used as DPN's. But my real problem is I've never knit a real sock. Oh, I've knit 2 socks so far and wear them all the time, but the pattern I use doesn't use gussets and heal flaps. Plus the pattern is toe up. This one used gussetts, heel flaps and is cuff down. I ripped the heel out once already. The second time seems to be going better but I really don't know if I'm doing it right. Plus, I am making it larger than the pattern calls for so my numbers are off and I have to use the pattern numbers as a guide. So far so good, till I got to the heel. If this doesn't work, I may rip it out and put it aside and go learn how to knit a sock the traditional way so maybe this stocking will make sense when I come back to it. I need to learn how to do this because this is the pattern I am using on all the stockings. So far the needles seem to be lining up right and I am able to knit in order. Will keep you informed how it goes.

I have a terrible desire to go to a yarn shop and buy yarn. It's a "I just had surgery so I want to treat myself nice and Valentine's Day is almost here and I'm not getting anything even though I told Joel I would like a gift certificate to a yarn shop for V-day". Problem is, I put myself on a yarn diet ("cold sheeping" in the knitting world) and I am waiting till my birthday to buy some. Between what I have and what was given to me over Christmas, I am swimming in it. Why would I want to buy more? Ahh..the addiction! There is soo much acrylic I have that I don't want. I also don't want to be like this person's yarn stash: It's very neat and color coordinated but it looks like she has a yarn store in her house! I like my like my yarn contained in one large tupperware container.