still another sock

with decorative chain stitch cuff

My Conwy socks are in time out. The yarn had soooo much twist that I was fighting it the entire time I was knitting. As soon as I finished the first sock I posted to a Ravelry forum to see if there was anything I could do. On the advice of a fellow Raveler, I reskeined the remaining yarn, washed it and as I type it's hanging in the bathroom with a towel weighing it down to relax the twist. Yarn Blocking, it's called, and fingers crossed that it works.

Overall I've been extremely disappointed with that skein from Rocky Mountain Dyeworks. It's not just the excessive twist. The yarn is very thin - much thinner than any of the other sock yarns in my stash even light fingering yarns - which makes for a very unsatisfactory knitted fabric for socks. I wouldn't recommend anything bigger than 2mm needles, in fact, it's probably better suited to lace projects rather than socks. It's also kind of unyielding and ropey feeling making it unpleasant to knit. The first finished sock feels prickly; could this be a side effect of the excess twist? I hope so, because I'm hoping the socks soften up with washing. Too bad really because the colour is absolutely stunning. Thank goodness I resisted the temptation of the other colourway I was looking at.

While that yarn dries I made a start on the next pair of socks for my Year of Projects - Dalarna. For this project I'm using hand-dyed yarn from Revelations of a Delusional Knitter in a colourway called Violas. Pretty, isn't it? Changing to this yarn from the last yarn has been very refreshing - this yarn is just so much plumper and softer, a real pleasure to knit. That's a good thing as the pattern is mostly plain old stockinette so it needs a lovely yarn to keep my interest.