Yaaaay! I finally have cable rather than unreliable wireless internet in my workroom! At last I can post pics without having to take the laptop downstairs!

Yesterday I had a mild bout of vertigo. Enough to make me nauseaus and gluggy in the head, especially if I moved around. So, since I couldn’t knit or read or spend a lot of time on the computer because of my back, but couldn’t get off my backside because of the vertigo, that left me with nothing much to do but listen to podcasts.

After listening to the latest episode of Stash and Burn I was up to date on all my regulars, so I continued catching up on old episodes of podcasts I’d discovered in the last month or two. This meant I probably listened to a little too much Socks in the City. By the evening I was shopping for sock yarn on the internet.

Which was a bit frustrating, actually. I’ve never been all that enamoured with varigated sock yarn. I like stripes, but that wasn’t what I was hankering for. I wanted mostly solids. I wanted bright blues and greens and purples. I wanted what Fearless Fibres makes (but I can’t have, because they don’t ship internationally – how can they call themselves fearless, eh?).

I looked here, I looked there. I filled a shopping cart, then abandoned it. Then this morning, in the clear light of day dim light of a blustery rain storm, I remembered a few of my favourite sock yarn producers. Does Sunshine Yarns do solids? Yes! Does Sundara? Yes! Does Lisa Souza? Oh, yes baby yes!

Am I bothered at all that the sock yarn bin is full to bursting already, and that I only recently bought more sock yarn, in a solid colour?

Maybe.

But right now I’m bothered more that I have wonderful sock pattern books and I’m not knitting anything out of them. Admittedly, I bought The Twisted Sister Sock Workbook for the dyeing tips, but there are some interesting construction techniques in there I’d like to try. I’ve taken inspiration from Socks Socks Socks to make a few pairs, but never followed exact directions. All I’ve done so far with Knitting Vintage Socks is leaf through and admire. And now my favourite bookshop owner has a copy of Favorite Socks waiting for me.

I’m not challenging myself, sockwise. I’ve got my two reliable toe-up sock patterns, one with a short-row heel, one with a heel flap, written on the inside of my eyelids, and don’t vary from them no matter how much I sigh over my books or the latest sock pattern. I’ve used the excuse that the yarn in my stash is too busy for socks with stitch texture for too long. I’m stuck in a rut. I’m not stepping out of my sock knitting comfort zone. I’m should be thinking outside the sock knitting box.

Well it’s time that stopped. I’m going to knit socks top down. I’m going to knit them sideways. I’m going to try an afterthought heel. I’m going to knit a pair of socks from each of my books, following the pattern, and see if I learn anything new.

It’s time to bust out of the sock knitting box. I think I need a button.

But first, I need a cuppa.

(Yarn above is one of two colours left of the Cocoon in Spotlight. What happened? Did they just sell out and not replace it? Or did it sell badly and they decided not to restock it?)