I have stalled. I am not sure if it is the pattern, if it is fertility drugs are yet again getting the better of my knitting or if socks are just not my thing, but one repeat into the main part of the sock I stopped knitting about 36 hours ago. The cuff was a pain in the backside, I had to count stitches after every single row, there were whole rows of purling, which with my style of purling is a misery on DPNs (I actually quite enjoy knitting on DPNs, but not purling). I was so glad when the cuff was over and yet one repeat into the actual sock and I have lost all interest.

Oh and I am worried about size too. I seem to be getting gauge, though it is a little early to tell for sure. If I am getting gauge then the sock will be 9 and 1/3 inches unstretched, which from what I read is a bit too close to my actual foot measurements (9.5 to 10 inches depending where you measure). However the pattern repeat is 12 stitches, making the next size down 8 inches exactly - which would be rather too small for my rather large foot… Perhaps they will make nice bed socks?

I will try to take a photo later today, what I have done so far is rather pretty. That is something.

I am just saying is all. If you have some amazing method for purling continental style on DPNs please share because what I am doing, well it’s only just workable.

I cast on my sock, it’s making me happy. I found a tip somewhere to cast all the stitches onto two needles held together and then slide the needles apart so you have half the stitches on each needle and then redistribute onto the extra needle/s from there. This worked really well and I am kicking myself that I forgot to book mark the page, it had lots of other sock knitting tips which may have turned out to be equally useful.

I spoke to Wendy at Jo Sharp’s studio, apparently my swatches are now en route to the mill with a request for an explanation. It doesn’t look like my yarn problem will be resolved any time soon. My Rogue is, I think, dead in the water. Perhaps it will be my first sweater next autumn, I guess it will depend on the effectiveness of the IVF and the timing of a successful transfer. I feel kind of sad and edgy about the whole thing, like I have forgotten to do something important and it’s about to bite me on the ass (I am talking about Rogue here, not IVF, or am I?).

Oh and my Shedir is in trouble too. The shop that said they had the right dye lot actually don’t have it after all, apparently some sort of discrepancy between their inventory and what was actually on their shelves. They say they are trying to track it down for me but I feel some frogging coming on…

Yesterday I bought some yarn and two sets of DPNs. Today I bought two more sets of DPNs. Tonight I plan to start knitting a pair of socks. It has occurred to me that Spearfish is not a beginner’s sock. I am not going to let that stop me. Remind me of that if I start whining in a few days time.

Many thanks to everyone who gave me advice on sock yarn, I do think I will be ordering some actual sock yarn at some point soon but I just couldn’t bear to wait another week (or more) to get back to my knitting, so superwash merino will have to do for now, which is hardly torture - this yarn is sooo soft.

So clearly I need to confess that I gave Jesse a card for a yarn store with the details of the yarn I might like (including colour number) on the back. It was enough for me that he went and got it! I still think he’s clever, but no, he probably wouldn’t know what to choose if confronted with an entire yarn store and no instructions.

I have spent much of the last 24 hours obsessing over socks and sock yarn. I am thinking about Retro Rib, Go With the Flow, Spearfish and some sort of leaf lace. I have been looking at Kroy socks, the only colour I can be fairly confident I would like is the Regatta Blue used for the Retro Rib shown in IK. Also Sisu I am thinking olive green (9544) and maybe pink (4503). I have been looking at Opal Uni Solids in pink (#11) and green (#40), the pink could be nice but it could be awful, it’s such a fine line with pink and so hard to tell online. There is also Jaeger Matchmaker 4 ply, it’s not sock yarn but can you believe how gorgeous that “strawberry” colour is and “crush” could be the pink I am looking for (if I can believe my screen). Finally there is Lang Jawoll Superwash, but the postage from the only place that seem to have the colours I want is about 3 times the price of the yarn - yikes! Of course I have a hankering to order some Koigu or Lorna’s Laces but I am finding their colours harder to come to terms with online. Oh and I have been looking at Nature’s Palette, which I would love in New Leaf, but they seem to be out of that colour and their shopping cart won’t work on my Mac.

So I am think I will order enough yarn for four pairs of socks (since I have four patterns on my list) I want something blue, something pink, something green and something red. Most likely the blue will be the Kroy in Regatta Blue and the red will be the Jaeger in Strawberry. Any advice on the green or the pink?

I have been coveting a pair of these shoes for three years, when I first started thinking about them my desire was purely for the extreme comfort of Birkenstocks without the extreme clunkiness of some of the classic Birkenstock styles. But I was worried about whether I could come to terms with wearing mary janes pretty much all the time (because I will wear them all the time, at least in winter), I worried about how I would feel having socks peaking out through a hole in my shoes.

One guess as to my first thought when I tried them on at my favourite shoe store last week. Yep, you guessed it. Must. Knit. Socks. Finding sock yarn just became a priority in my life.