Do I or Don't I? Will I or Won't I?

Well now that I've gotten in my plea to join the HSS4 (and gotten a reply, so I assume that means I'm being allowed back into Hogwarts) I've been thinking about the yarn for my partner.

I had laid in a stock of yarns (as you can see by my stash counter - although I wonder exactly how accurate it is at this moment, I'm sure I've missed a couple of shipments) in anticipation of joining another round - well I did discover HSS3 way too late, but had learned they were going to have a fourth so - you know me!

But now that its time, I'm wondering if maybe I shouldn't go with something more original --- like the Knit Picks sock blanks.

If you haven't seen them yet (and you must be living under a rock not to have heard of them), they are flats of knitted sock yarn which has been knitted double stranded - this way both skeins of sock yarn will follow the general pattern of color changes ....


I don't like the thought of using a chemical in something where the kids are - its what is keeping me from diving headlong into polymer clay....but lets not get me off subject just yet.

So I was thinking I could use Kool-Aid powder mix as a suitable substitute -- although I never did get around to doing 'potions class' with the little ones last year to work on the Bare Merino that I got for the purpose of dying last vacation.

So I suppose I should start with that one first -- start with dying a solid color first, then start getting into the fancy stuff....but I keep thinking of all the fun designs I can 'paint' into the blank that will just magically work itself up as I do just a simple knit stitch to make the sock.

Of course I would have to work from the top down since I'm sure that the heel will throw the patterning off. Of course the ribbing may do that too.
But then there is always the issue of gauge -- my gauge is never what it is supposed to be ... I mean for the pattern of the yarn.

I got some of that self striping yarn for socks and tried to make sure my swatch was on gauge, but once I started knitting up - it didn't look anything like the photo they had online of the yarn ... not even close ... instead of getting nice striping, I got pooling - you know where the yarn starts to look much like a television with the vertical hold off? Oh I suppose with cable, people don't understand that imagery anymore.

Think of it kind of like trying to watch a station that you don't have access too - no wait ... that doesn't work either as most cable companies black out the screen instead. Hmmm - I guess there really isn't a modern equivilent.

Damn I'm old.