A Sad Sock Story with a Happy Ending

I've been knitting where I can all week, hoping to make it past Round Two of Sock Madness. I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked to, because other responsibilities ate up knitting time.

This worried me, because I really hoped to make it to Round 3 this year. I had some bad luck last year, but hoped everything would go smoothly this time around. My first day's progress was, I thought, pretty impressive. It didn't go as well after that, but I had plans to go to The Fiber Event on Friday - three hours in the car with a fellow knitter, who understands the need to knit while riding.

So I continued to make progress - about 45 minutes into the trip, we stopped for gas. By delightful coincidence, that was when I finished my first ball of black yarn. I reached into the bag, pulled out the next one, and tried very hard to not cuss.

It was the wrong black yarn. I'm making these socks from Baby Ull, and I'd packed a ball of Falk. I had another sock with me to work on, so the car ride wasn't completely unproductive, but I worried. I reassured myself by thinking I'd pick up a ball of Baby Ull at the Fiber Fair, and work on the socks on the way home.

But there was no Baby Ull at the Fiber Fair. There were lots of lovely fibery things, and I bought quite a few of them, but none of what I needed. Still, I reassured myself, I could always pick it up the next day at my LYS.

Saturday morning was cool and sunny. Aaron was in town for an SCA event. We planned our day, planned it around my yarn-shopping trip. I settled the dogs in, headed out to the event, and stopped at River Knits on the way.

And found no black Baby Ull.

I love Baby Ull because it's a nice soft baby yarn in grown-up colors, but the baby colors appear to be much more popular. I looked and looked, (in full 14th-century get-up, save for the Visa card), hoping to find something suitable.

Finally I settled on a Mission Hills DK. It's not quite the same weight, but the color and the feel are good.

On the way out of the store I got cornered by people Promoting A Cause. Talking to them cost me valuable knitting time.

But rather than talk about the hours of frantic knitting time, I'll skip to the happy ending. I made it. Finished the socks, and posted them to Sock Madness, with 5 places remaining after me.

Meet Tokena - made from Baby Ull and other stuff. I had to rip back and alter the toe to make it fit better, but now they're all finished. Much as I love these socks, I hope I won't have a good day for wearing them anytime soon - they're toasty warm, and I'm ready for spring.

And I'm ready for Round Three! I wonder how long we have to wait?