Brain currently booting in Safe Mode

I am currently knitting my first pair of mittens for a friend (this same friend destashed his late mother's bags and bags and bags of yarn upon me, so it seemed like an even trade) and have completed the thumb! Okay, yes, it doesn't sound that exciting, but I had to learn a new skill (increases to the left and to the right) as well as adapt the pattern for how I knit, which is not how these mittens were intended to be worked up (in the round on double pointed needles vs in the flat and sewn up after).

After the thumb was thumbed, I thought that I should, you know, weave in my end because it is the one thing that I hate the most and this would get it over with quickly. I have a little case that I naalbound with all of my yarn needles and my naalbinding needles, some stitch markers and safety pins, and a foldable pair of scissors that I bought at SickKids when Shannon was in their care. I picked it up, thought it felt weird, but put that out of mind and opened it up and tipped it out.

Where the hell did all my needles go?

While I do still have two of my naalbinding needles (including the brass replica of an archaeological find gifted by my friend), the scissors and stitch markers and safety pins, I only have one yarn needle. What the actual fuck?

My best guess is this: I had taken my completed owlbear to Declan's orthodontics appointment last week because I had attached the legs unevenly and it made the entire piece wonky. I brought what I needed to take it off and then reattach one of the legs to make it look more even. (Side note: any handmade crochet stuffy is going to be a little wonky. It's the nature of the craft and part of the charm of the finished piece, but I digress.) Because I was working on something that required my needle case, I suspect that the others slid out when I wasn't paying attention and I left them behind in the waiting room. I did not notice that they were gone until yesterday and they weren't at the bottom of a bag temporarily misplaced.

This is more of a bummer than any kind of life altering loss. The needles have most likely been tossed into the trash, which is a tich frustrating because too many useful items get thrown out for no good reason. Ah, well. I will acquire more at some later point when I have the inclination and opportunity to do so.

I went out for a bit, wandered down to the local Value Village to look for a king size bedspread to convert into a futon mattress cover of sorts. Whilst there, I had a glance at the yarns hanging there. Often, I don't find much, but when I do find something? I FIND SOMETHING.

Today, I spent more money on yarn from there than I have ever spent before. Why? It was, for the most part, sock yarn.



Sock yarn that is often conservatively priced at $12 a piece. That, right there, is seventeen sock yarns (all are superwash merino, two of that being 100% Uruguayan merino, whatever the heck that means aside from $28/skein), and one mohair/acrylic blend in blush pink that I will turn into a shawl for my sister. There were a few others that were scooped up by an old woman who came up behind me. *shakes fist*

I paid a fraction of what that would cost if I had gone to a knitter's fair or retail store. Even the sale prices for it are much higher than what I paid. Should I have bought all of that sock wool when I still haven't finished making my OWN socks and am stuck wearing boring compression socks? Probably not. Do I care? I most certainly do not care. I loves me some sock yarn, and I can do other things with it besides socks, like make super warm, super thin winter hats.

Yeah. I spent a lot, true. But that's a lot of yarn for ~$80.

I've started knitting. First sock cast on and a couple of rows already done. Thank fuck for the internet and places where I can learn how to do these things without trying anyone's patience that isn't my own.

Is it going to be the most fantastic sock in the history or socks? I'll be over here, laughing and trying not to drop another needle and have to pick up those stitches again. My learning curve, let me show you it.

I am, though, ridiculously proud of myself for even this slow and somewhat frustrating start. I learned how to do a long tail cast on! To knit and purl! To work in the round with double pointed needles! (I started with a circular, but the cord and the sliding stitches to-and-fro was twisting everything around and just no.)

Socks! I might even get decent enough to make them for other people. Maybe. In a year or ten. :)