blameless (read: I totally caved in)

and started knitting something new.

My fickleness should not surprise anyone what with my short attention span and penchant for familiar, easily transportable projects. But all this monkey talk had me worked up and the next thing I knew I was digging through the stash for this.

This is Socks That Rock, medium weight, “Nodding Violets” colorway. While I had the swift out the Cracked Canyon got a spin as well. I have never used STR yarn, but all of Cara’s talk about it has led me to try it out. I mean, I like socks, right? And I like nice sock yarn, right? Given how much Cara goes on and on and on about how fantastic this yarn is it seemed plausible that (as she doesn’t appear to be paid for her promotion of said yarn) it could really really be an excellent yarn. I am guilty of empathetic promotion of items I feel I can’t live without myself, be it yarn, music, food, or what have you. Yet while these things rock my world and I can’t stop gushing about them, you may not feel the same way once you experience them yourself.

In this case, it is not so. The true life testamonials are true and for serious.

STR yarn is buttery soft and intensely colored, everything I heart in a sock. Every stitch of the sock I cast on last night has been a delight, every minute a private little guilty pleasure between yarn, needle and myself. Sure, I had experienced this vicariously through petting the yarn of others, but feeling the yarn and really feeling the yarn has been two completely different events.

Transcendant, to be sure. A woman at MDSW asked some of us in The Fold’s line what was so special about STR. Had I known then what I know now, I may have rambled on about its mystical properties. Another girl responded with “Oh, it’s really great sock yarn.” And that I can not deny!

I really want to thank everyone that has commented/emailed/visited the past few days. Lots of questions about socks and especially the monkeys! I’ve enjoyed every bit of it and hope I’m helping you guys out there in knit land. That is why I even started this blog-a way to share my experiences with the community.

If you have a Flickr account and you are feeling particularly froggy, I started a group for Monkey socks. Go ahead and join. I’ve never done this before, so if it spontaneously combusts, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Sadly, my knitting time is short in the near future. I will be having windows installed in the home starting Monday and there’s some painting to do. Also, the guts of my den need to be covered with drywall before this all happens. Which wouldn’t be a super big problem, except that it has taken three days to get one sheet on the wall. What can I say, we’re very… thorough?

I leave you with Kaylee, enjoying the six foot view she conquered all on her own.

Wishing all sunny knitting weather for this weekend!