Well, that meditation on color was quite interesting. Also a little overwhelming in the sense that it made me come face to face with my stash for the first time in a loooooong time. The baskets that usually hold that stash hide so much of it that I often forget how much is in there. It takes a pile on the bed to realize that, really, I do have (more than) enough. I accumulate sock yarn at a much faster rate than I can use it. I’m not like this with other yarn, just sock yarn. I see sock yarn as art, as collector’s pieces. I love to support the indie dyers.  I like knowing that if I wanted to cast on for 40 pairs all at once, I’ve got enough yarn to do so.  But, egads, I really need to get moving on widdling this down a bit.

On that front…Back in the fall, I cast on with some Dream in Color Smooshy (Chinatown Apple) for Cookie’s Twisted Flower socks for a sock swap. I kept running into issues with the fit and I eventually abandoned it for another pattern in another yarn. Well, the sock, she was calling me, so I took her for another spin.

So. much. better. I don’t know, maybe my standards aren’t so high when I’m knitting for myself. Maybe not having the pressure to produce a sock worthy of my swap pal let me loosen up, as it were. Maybe the yarn finally realized that she and this pattern were meant to be. Whatever the reason, the whole thing is going much more smoothly.

And I’m glad, because this yarn is just gorgeous and I just can’t envision it in any other pattern.

Like the new sock blockers? They were a Christmas gift from my parents that arrived the other day (the package didn’t quite make it to their house in time, but I never complain about getting presents). And what else was in the package?

STR mediumweight in Valkyrie, my favorite of the Raven clan.

STR mediumweight in Ravenscroft, also from the Raven clan.

Gah.  Widdle or drown.