The yarn is out to get me.

I started the Mark's new socks out of the new Knit Picks Sock Memories, and that sucker started pooling on me right away. I stupidly knit away for a while, thinking it would just take a couple more rows to variegate or at least stripe nicely, but no dice. The last time this happened, I started over with the other end of the ball, and it worked! Naturally, I thought it would work again, and naturally, I was wrong:



This yarn is a no-go. Perhaps it will be very happy someday as a baby garment, but alas, not as socks.

The good news for me is that I love the new Knit Picks DPNs. My only possible complaint is that they're pretty heavy, which makes it hard to juggle them until you get about an inch of knitting on them. The points are very sharp and they are slick, slick, slick - perfect for a tight knitter like me. I was so excited about them, that I decided to start on my mom's birthday socks. Her birthday's in May, but I suck, so I figured I'd get a headstart. I had some Koigu that I was trying to make up into a cable pattern before deciding that the beautiful yarn was just way too busy for cables:



I ripped and started over, planning to do a 1x1 cuff, switching to 3x1 ribbing for the leg. Don't you know that the damn thing started pooling on me?



I may be stupid, but, as you can see, I'm trying the starting from the other end of the ball trick again. It's too early to tell if it'll pool, but I am hoping that will be a no.

Now for some yarn that is not out to get me - at least, not yet:



That gorgeous pile (Silk Garden 203 - made possible by Mark through a generous gift certificate for Yarns By Design) is destined to be a Lady Eleanor. I never really had much inclination to try entrelac, until I saw SJ's gorgeous finished Lady E. SJ - I may need to solicit your assistance on this one!

Thanks to all of you for your nice comments on the last socks. Lis - you should totally join us next time! Are you reeeaally far? Brooke, I hope that Knitty tutorial helped out. And, Amanda, I was totally hanging from an I-beam a la Krazy Glue.

First 40 sighting of the new year.

I worried that I was too obvious with my 40 snapping last night (people were staring), so, as cover, I quickly snapped a shot of the girls like I was taking photos of everything:



Obvious? Nah, not me.

But wait! I actually finished something! Behold:



Those are some plain vanilla socks, knit with Claudia's Hand Painted Yarn in the "Walk in the Woods" colorway. Regular sock recipe with 1.5 inches of 2x2 ribbing at the cuff and stockinette for the rest. I used Brittany birch DPNs for these. I love Brittanys, but at 5 inches, these were just an inch too short for knitting adult socks, in my knitting opinion (but they'll be great for baby socks). I think that Brittany only makes 5 and 7 inch needles, and I find 7s to be a bit too long. Oh well, the search for the perfect DPNs continues.

Speaking of, I am hoping that my new needles may be the ones. Mark has made a request for some red socks, so I ordered some Knit Picks Sock Memories in Redwood Forest. You know that you can't spend under $40 there (very smart, that free shipping limit), so I thought I would try their DPNs, which look promisingly like my beloved Addis, but with much sharper points:



I can't wait to try them out!