G. Knerd

Remember when I cast on those socks with the Deborah Norville yarn?

Yeah, me either.  Apparently, it was in November.  Since then, that pair have been my go-everywhere, knit-anytime socks, which I finally finished last week.

This was my first time using Deborah Norville yarn, and…well, I’m not impressed.  The colors are okay, and it’s rather soft, but that’s about all I can say for it.  It’s really loosely spun, making it very splity.  I’m also pretty sure that this will be my first pair of hand knit socks to develop holes, given that the finished fabric feels about as durable as paper.

I could forgive all that, though – given that I got enough yarn for a pair of socks for five bucks, and given that my drawers really don’t need the addition of another pair of socks, I’d be willing to live with a pair that would wear out relatively quickly.  I could even practice my darning skills (or, you know, embrace the more traditional “Darn it!” while tossing them in the trash).

What I will not forgive, though, is this:

Between the two balls of yarn, there was not one, not two, but three places where the yarn was cut and then tied.  That’s six extra ends to weave in (even that I could forgive), but that also means that the color repeat was interrupted in random places and the socks don’t match (starting on the instep just after the heel).  Just look at the toes!

I’ve never subscribed to this idea of purposefully mismatched socks.  In my head, socks are a pair, and they are by definition (again, in my head) supposed to be identical.  I even scrapped quite a bit of perfectly good yarn just to ensure that I was starting at the same point in the color repeat on each sock.

Now, I’m willing to give Deborah another shot.  Given that her yarn was $5/pair at the store, I didn’t exactly stop at this colorway.  If I recall correctly, I actually have two other colorways of this yarn in my stash.  So here’s the deal, Deborah: eventually, I’ll get around to knitting socks out of those other colorways.  If either one of them shows the same behavior of random ends as this pair…well, I simply don’t have time for that kind of frustration in my life.  Sorry, my dear, but I don’t deserve that, and although your yarn is certainly the cheapest I’ve found so far, I’m also willing to spend a few extra bucks to avoid the random ends

Then again, maybe this pair were a fluke.  I’m willing to believe that.  But I’ll need the proof of both other pairs coming out just fine before I’m willing to bet any money on it.

On the other hand, I did get a full pair of socks for $5.  That’s really not a bad deal.