A few years ago, I attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I had learned to knit socks the year prior, and I bought TONS of sock yarn while I was there (maybe not TONS, but enough). I've tried to knit my sock yarn in the order that I've bought it, but haven't truly stuck to that plan. I have three skeins left from MDSW that I want to knit up before summer time. It'll just make the stash not seem so... so... large.

The three skeins of sock yarn are:

1. Tess' Designer Yarns Super Sock and Baby - this has always been destined to become a pair of Pomatomuses.  I have probably started the socks about a gazillion times, and every time, I get pulled away from them, and forget where in the heck I am in the pattern.  I also didn't think the pattern would be as holey as it is, so I figured I was doing something wrong and frogged the previous versions of the socks.  I'm taking notes this time, and I'm going to stick with these socks.  So far, they look like this.

Lots more to go, but I will persevere.

2. Three Waters Farms Superwash Merino - When I purchased this, I was in a booth with Lolly and Jenna.  There was a lot of petting and oohing and aahing over the great colors of Three Waters had.  I wasn't exactly sold on the skein (only 373 yards and honestly, the yarn felt a little thick for sock yarn), but they each bought one (I think) and I was apparently high on yarn fumes.    So this came home with me and languished in my stash for almost two years.

I had it earmarked as "willing to trade" on Ravelry until two weeks ago.  I needed something to knit for my weekly knitting group, and I was bored with everything in my stash.  I hadn't seen this skein for a while, and decided that I'd give it a go.  Even if I did think the fabric produced was too thick, I could always knit baby socks.  I cast on my typical number of stitches for a plain ol' stockinette sock and began knitting.  My opinion of this yarn changed instantly!  It was so very soft and fluffy and honestly, not thick at all.  As a matter of fact, it was almost too thin for my size 1.5 needles.  I began knitting these half-heartedly, and by Saturday, one sock was complete.  I finished the other on a plane the next Wednesday evening, and I totally dig my new pair of socks!  Seriously, one of the softest yarns I've knit with.  And the colors are still amazing!

3. Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino - I purchased this at the end of the show, right before I was leaving.  The colors are almost a bit dark for me, but I'd never tried Cherry Tree Hill's sock yarn before, and had heard good things.  The colors have definitely grown on me, and the yarn has been cast on several times.  I just can't find a pattern I like for it.  On Sunday, I decided that they should become some no-purl Monkeys.  And, honestly, everything was going fine.  The pattern looked (sort of) nice and the yarn was cooperating with the pattern.  But something was off.  The fabric wasn't what I imagined the Monkeys to be.  Taking a peak at the pattern a second time, I noticed that I was ssk-ing where I should have been k2tog-ing and vice versa.  So RIP they went.  Poor, poor Cherry Tree Hill Supersock... you never get treated right, do you?  I promise I'll get it right next time.

Last week I finished not ONE, but TWO pairs of socks. It feels fantastic having these off of my needles, like I can finally knit other things.

First, let me discuss the Noro Kureyon socks.  I'm not a big fan.  At least not of these socks, made up of these colors.  To be honest, when I bought the yarn, I really thought there would be more blue and grey in the socks, as that's what really showed up on the outside of the ball.  However, lots o' green and brown.  And, in my opinion, not the pretties browns in the world.  If there's one color I do not like it is baby poo brown/yellow, and I think that's the color that stands out the most - because it looks like it doesn't belong.  The other colors are fine in the sock, and I'm thrilled with most of the color changes (some are a bit abrupt) but that baby poo brown/yellow near the ankles really turns me off.  I've gotten compliments on the socks, however, and will probably end up wearing them - after a good soak to hopefully soften them up!  I still have another skein of Kureyon sock yarn, but I'm in no rush to knit with it.

The second pair of finished socks will shortly be shipped out to my Hogwarts Sock Swap 3 Partner.  These socks were knit with Reynolds Wash Day Wool, a yarn made for children, but without the "kid" colors.  I think they made great socks, nice and soft but sturdy, too.  My partner in this is a Ravenclaw and wanted the movie colors (silver and blue) rather than the book colors (bronze and blue).  I think the blue is slightly dark, and the silver slightly blue, but honestly, they're pretty cool lookin' socks.  I'm proud of these!

I started a new project, too, though it isn't what I said I was going to start this weekend.

I'm knitting mittens, just not the Fiddlehead Mittens.  I wanted to get another stranding project under my belt before taking on the new kit.  I think they look great in the picture, but they're a bit wonky in real life.  I'm hoping that blocking them will help significantly.  The second mitten has been started and hopefully I'll have a pair by the weekend, so I can continue with other projects.  Being semi-monogomous to my knitting projects is proving very difficult...