Two weeks ago I ordered three skeins of yarn from an online shop back east. Said yarn still isn't here. And compound the fact they are downright horrible about answering customer questions. I am totally unimpressed.

Working in a yarn shop is rather lovely and dangerous. You get paid to knit, using yarn you don't have to pay for, all in the name of a shop model. That tank you love so much but the pattern doesn't go to your size? It'll sell more cotton than you can shake a stick at. You also get to unpack all kinds of new stock, petting it as you. Yarns, notions, and bags oh my!

This is where the downside is, because you're liable to come home with 9 skeins of Rowan Handknit DK in Ice Water to make the Whoosh Zip Jacket from Miss Bea's Playtime. And of course you need something to tote your new project around in, so you also have to buy that lovely Lantern Moon Palm Leaf Tote in Cinnamon. You leave, thanking god for your steep employee discount because it'll save your ass when your husband gets ahold of the reciept.

I get the feeling we've seen these colours before...

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Mariner
Needles: Crystal Palace Sz 2 six inch DPNs
Pattern: Simple Socks from Sally Melvile's The Purl Stitch

I finished sock number two (really #3, but who is keeping track?) this morning and promptly gifted them away for Mother's Day. Hope you enjoy them, Mom!

The Mariner colourway is a older, discontinued colourway. I found the yarn tucked away in a local shop last year, shortly after Kerry finished her Lorna's socks. Since then it's been sitting in the bottom of my stash box waiting to be used. I finally decided to make my Mom a pair of socks for Mother's Day and use said Lorna's for it. So I cast on, finished, and promptly ripped apart sock number one. My gauge was way off and the fabric was so loose it wouldn't hold up to much wear. I cast back on, knit the sock number two (which is really number one, redux) much tighter and was much happier with it.

In the end Mom is happy, I am happy, and tomorrow I am casting on for a pair of socks for moi in this stuff. Pure heaven, I say.