Thanks for the advice on tossing tangly yarn--I will toss it out! Just as soon as I finish the project and definitely don't need it. Otherwise, you know I'd figure out I needed another 10 yards of yarn just as it was slithering into the dumpster.

I was planning to go to a knitting night on Sunday, at a bubble tea place (!), but it turned out they'd had a last-minute change of heart and gone en masse to a local park we'd never heard of. So Tejas and I shared a bubble tea and went home, and I knit both sleeves and half the hood of the baby sweater. It was a nice little place though, and right over by where we do grocery shopping, so I think I can wheedle my way back sometime.

And that is all the knitting I've done in the past three days.

Monday I didn't leave the lab till 9:30 pm. When I got home, I just ate something and fell asleep. Yesterday I left at a civilized hour (5:30ish) but then went to the gym and tired myself out, and when I got home I ate something, spent some time with Tejas, and fell asleep. (Are you noticing a pattern here?) I'm determined that today I'll actually get some knitting down, because this is pathetic, and also, I think Tejas is starting to worry about me.

Also, I need to get this baby sweater done. I'm bored now. I want to go back to socks as my alternate project. Speaking of socks! There are so many sock patterns I want to knit! And some of them I even have the correct yarn for! (Some of them, alas, I have been drooling over for months and will continue to drool over until I go off the yarn diet. Then, my dears, we shall see the needles fly!) Right now my fancy socks are the Undulating Rib socks from the Favorite Socks book, knitted in Fleece Artist "Forest". I love the colorway, I love the way the socks are turning out, and these are MINE MINE MINE. I was going to give them away, but no. MINE! My plain socks are in Sunset Yarns (an etsy seller who, sadly, seems to have disappeared) "Rainbow Road", and they are for Mom, who oddly enough appears to like really really bright socks (she chose 'em over more muted ones I thought she'd like better). See, the way my sock knitting goes is, I have fancy socks--socks I have to pay attention to--for when I want complicated knitting, and plain socks--socks I don't have to look at much--for knitting while reading. I always have at least one plain pair going.

Since it seems like one person at least who reads this blog, and one more who might, are starting to knit socks, I thought you might like to know what became of my sock yarn survey. So here, for your edification and enjoyment (ha!), are the Sock Survey Results. (Drum roll, please.)

Sock Yarn Survey Results

• Knitpicks Simple Stripes. I used "Sunset," "Sweettart," and "Snapdragon." "Sweettart" was by far the prettiest. Decent basic yarn. Striping pattern is kinda on the boring side and not as well-printed as higher quality yarns, but turns out nice enough. Yarn is a little scratchy but will probably hold up well, due to the nylon content. This knits up at 7 to 7.5 sts/inch for me, a little bigger than most fingering weights.
• Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock. I used "Sand Hill" and also have one sock in "Happy Valley" completed. The feel of the yarn is absolutely scrumptiously soft and buttery; loved knitting with it except if one of my needles accidently punctured the yarn--then it didn't so much split as explode. The colors are kind of muted, but pretty, and the striping pattern is very nice (not much pooling). I LOVE this yarn and would definitely buy it again. Knits up at 7.5 to 8 sts/inch for me.
• Lisa Souza Sock!. I used "South Pacific." The color were fairly nice, but the feel of the yarn is kind of scratchy and blah--not my favorite. (The socks turned out quite lovely though!) It striped fairly well without much pooling. However, the widths of the stripes changed over the skein, so my second sock striped twice as often as the first one.
• Sunset yarns (etsy) superwash sock. I used "Rainbow Road." I think the base yarn for this, as well as most other etsy sock yarns, is Opal Gems Pearl, and I love it to death. Nice and scrunchy, takes color vividly and almost translucently. Also, it knits up the tightest of all the sock yarns I tried, at 8 sts/inch easily, and a much tighter row gauge. I wish this seller would come back so I could buy some more yarn from her. Not that I'm buying yarn at the moment.
  
• Fearless Fibers (etsy) superwash sock. I used "Kildare." See the sunset yarns entry for base yarn comments; the coloring was nice semisolid. I've had these socks for almost a year now and they're still fairly nice, though a little pilly (I'm hard on my socks).
• Regia. I used a red stripe and a blue/green stripe. It's also fairly scratchy, and the colors aren't as nice as the handdyed stuff, but it's very hardwearing. Tejas' blue/green socks have been through the washer and the dryer multiple times, and the socks still look new.
• Opal. I used "Schlange" from the new Rainforest Collection. I liked the dappled look of the colors, but I hated the feel of the yarn--it's like thread. I suspect it'll wear well, though.
• Lang Jawoll. I used "charcoal." HATE HATE HATE! I got a little ball of pilled wool on the yarn as I was knitting it, and I kept having to slide it along/pull it off. It drove me nuts.
• Sunshine yarns (etsy). I have two of the dragon colors, but haven't knit with either yet. Bad me. They look nice enough, though I think they were overpriced. Also, the skeins are wound really tight--don't like that much. She's very popular but I probably won't buy from her again.
  
• RubySapphire yarns (etsy). I have a semisolid blue, which I also haven't knit with. See the sunset yarns entry for base yarn comments. I don't like most of their colors (boring) so will probably not buy from them again.
  
• Twisted (etsy). I used "Secret" and have half a sock knit in "Exile." The stripes are fun but vary in width, so the socks don't match, and the stripes in Exile are way too wide for my taste. Nice yarn though, and I like the colors. Mom loves her Secret socks best of anything I've made for her. I would probably buy from this store again.
  
• Claudia Handpainted. I used "Pistachio" for socks and "Toast" for tam/gloves. THIS IS MY FAVORITEST OF ALL SOCK YARNS. The skeins are smallish, but big enough for normal-sized socks, and the yarn is somehow wonderfully scrunchy. The color combinations are really unusual, and yet somehow it all works out and looks lovely. It doesn't stripe really, nor does it pool--there are just little flecks of each color. Gorgeous.
• Fleece Artist. I used "Origin" and am using "Forest." LOVE this yarn too! Soft and somehow slinky, and very vivid, though I had problems with one of my origin socks being vivider than the other (grr). Flecks in the same way as the Claudia Handpainted.
• Apple Laine Apple Pie sock yarn. I used "Royal blue." I don't like so many of the colors, but the yarn base is unusual (contains silk and mohair) and lots of fun to knit with. Have to check with my mom on comfort and how well it wears.
• Socks that Rock. I used "Dreidel" and have an unfinished pair in "Farmhouse." I like this yarn for the colors, but I'm not as crazy about it as some people. It's too dense for me somehow--makes nice socks, but I don't really love knitting it.
• Sweet Georgia. I have an unfinished pair in "Berry." I didn't like this much (hence the unfinished pair)--it pooled horribly and looked much better in the skein than in the sock. Normally I like pooling just fine, but this sock has one side in one color and one side in a different color--blech. I'll probably finish the pair eventually, but I won't be buying more of this yarn.
• Sockotta. I am slooooooowly knitting a sock in some lavenderish color. I don't like it much, which is why it's going slowly. It's like knitting with twine. The socks will probably be decent summer socks, though, because of all the cotton content. Nonetheless, I have learned my lesson. Will not be buying more sockotta, even though the colors are pretty.

Did I forget anything? Hopefully not, but if I did, I'll add it in later. Hope this helps anyone who's making sock yarn selections!