This Will be Sock Yarn, Even if it Kills Me

Well, maybe I won't go that far. But it will be sock yarn in the end. One way or another. I shall have socks! Huff, huff.

I bought the Unofficial Harry Potter Knits magazine over the summer while following my MIL around the sewing shop. I don't usually like to buy books/magazines full of patterns unless I seriously want to make at least 50% of the projects. In this magazine, there's probably around 75%.

Normally, I'm pretty free of constraints when it comes to making yarn. I don't usually try to make the yarn fit a specific gauge. I have my stash of handspun and when I feel like making something from a pattern, I look to see if I have anything that fits the requirements. About a third of the time, I find the right pattern/handspun yarn combo.

But what about that remaining two-thirds? I have a ton of projects I want to work on and a ton of handspun I want to make. It looks like I need to start swatching for projects so I can get more projects done with my own yarn, without making my handspun yarn stash massive. I'm not a huge fan of swatching, but I realize its importance. So now begins the testing.

The first round of testing turned out to be fruitful. I learned that the gauge I needed was different than the gauge used, so now I need to spin it at a thinner gauge. I'm still not quite happy about my gauge problem though, but a discussion of WPI is to be set aside for now. Sampling is great so I don't waste my wool (it's not really wasted, but it does mean using it for something else). I really want to make the Dragon's Egg socks. It'll happen. I just need to make another sample.

I'll be back with an update once I get the other round of testing started!