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agonizing

dave was really cute yesterday and asked what i was planning to do today (my day off) i'm not really sure was my response (lie lie lie lie lie). i was planning to spend most of the day agonizing over what pattern and yarn to use for my hogwarts socks! :)

you see its a complicated proposition. there are so many patterns that would be absolutely perfect. what? no i'm not planning your basic striped sock. that would be oh so boring. so i spent some time looking for patterns and i think i have it narrowed down to 2.

first there are the red herring herringbone socks from knitty.


then there are the bakerloo sideways socks from magknits.

either one would be perfect for this it has a stripe (sort of) and would accomodate the clashing oh did is say clashing i meant non matchingly bright colors of a hogwarts house :) sorry can you tell i'm knitting for hufflepuff? i think i may be buzzing by the time i finish with black and yellow let me tell you! both patterns are also very different form anything i have knit before. hmm do i go for interesting construction or for colorwork which i have never tried? sigh.

so if i were to assumethat the same yarn would work for either pattern then i could move on and work on the yarn delimma right? oh boy. here's where it gets really interesting. ok. the swap lists the colors for hufflepuff as brown sheep's nature spun in impasse yellow and pepper black. now i have nothing agains nature spun. i'm sure its great. but it's not superwash (one of my sock requirements) and it's a little bulky for daily wear socks. and its gauge isn't right if i decide to go the herringbone route. so i look at wildfoote (which i love) but it only comes in lullaby. and thats just a little too baby yellow in my opinion...so i start looking at lang jawoll superwash. another favorite. and i think that sunflower would be perfect. but its $7 something a ball and since i want to make inverted (one sock mostly yellow one mostly black) i would need 4 balls and this is getting a little expensive for my barista budget. so i pass. and i'm having a really hard time finding a good yellow in a reasonable price range anywhere. sigh.

so i thought of knitpicks finally. the cost really being my limiting factor. and found out they don't make yellow? what? i mean not that theres realy much call for yellow. i mean who wants to knit a school bus cozy in fingering weight right? so i was about to give up with i hit myself in the head. literally. and said to myself you idot. why not dye the yellow? so thats what i have decided to do. i'm going to but the knitpicks essential in black (2 balls) and pick up a hank of bare in either plain or the tweed. yet another delimma. i'll pick up two pairs of 3's cause i've been wanting some for bulkier weight socks. and maybe something else too i haven't yet decided.

but i have to wait to see if i need to get any other dyes before i call shuttles for dye. they promised to ship me some if i ever needed it after i moved. isn't that sweet? why wait to call you say? well i signed up for sockpalooza 4 and i want to know if i shoud be ordering another color i don't have or even know i need yet for my new sock pal :) i'm just gonna be the hand dyed sock exchange girl. how does that sound? asuming my pal is agreeable, and who woudn;t wat haindpainted socks right, i'll make the call. order some dye, some yarn, and dip into my undyed wool stash, and freak dave out by dyig in our nifty new kitchen :) mental note where does he hide the camera? i have to take and post photos of our new place. before it's not new anymore.

oh, have i mentioned the yarn shops down here yet? they don't carry dye. what? yes no dye. and lets just say this sock yarn search left much to be desired. after several calls around to track down yarn to buy in person...i come to the conclusion there isn't much around. unless i drive forever. and one shop only carries sockotta. now don't get me wrong i adore sockotta. but who would carry only one type of sock yarn? sheesh!

Comments

Cathi said…
Umm, I can't believe I didn't say this on the phone- I didn't even think about it- but what about Lorna's? It is a little pricier, though....

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