yarnmule: Brought To You By The Letter F

Brought To You By The Letter F

You know what's fun? When you do something knowing it's going to be a mistake, but you do it anyway, and then it ends up being a mistake. Then you kick yourself, and that hurts a little, but not as much as knowing that you are an idiot, albeit an idiot with foresight. Yep, that's fun.

When I first created Chevrolace, I spent a lot of time looking for the right yarn. I knew that a true stripe wouldn't work. I knew I didn't want it to be solid. I bought some multi-colors with short color bursts, thinking they would work. They didn't; too much bright color obscured the pattern, and the darker colors didn't photograph well. I finally settled on the Ivory semi-solid from Fleece Artist. Light color to photograph well, a little bit of interest, but not so much that it detracted from the pattern. I loved the color, I loved the sock, it got published, and they were my pride and joy.

Well. I'm the type of girl that will only buy sock yarn if it's machine washable, because I know that I will never, ever have the time and/or patience to hand wash socks. Now the label on the Fleece Artist CLEARLY states that you can machine wash, but lay flat to dry. Of course, the very first time I washed them I accidentally threw them in the dryer. Lo and behold, no problem. They were fine. The second time I accidetnally threw them in the dryer, still fine. In fact, the only evidence of wear was a little fuzzing on the heel, where my shoe rubbed against it. Again, no problem. I soon forgot all about the washing instrcutions, and started treating them like all of my other socks. Sadly, all my other socks contain at least 15% nylon, and these didn't.

Fast forward. I honestly don't know what happened; too much heat in the washer or dryer, or maybe just the cumulative effects of months of abuse. Here is how they look now:

FELTED. Not completely felted, but mostly. They go on this far, but no farther. The ribbing still stretches, but the rest of the sock doesn't. They are finished, merely a bad memory of my lack of interest in taking special care of hand-knits. F*&%$*)((*&!!!

Clearly, another pair of Chevrolace is in order. I can't go through life without a pair of my very own. So I've started over, with a new yarn, which I haven't checked care instructions on yet (some people never learn). Here's sock 1 in progress:

Pretty, no? And so soft. The yarn is Acero from Brooks Farms, and is a blend of superwash merino, silk, and viscose. Please note that there is NO NYLON. Why did I buy it? Because Brooks Farms colors are like CRACK, that's why, and I was at Rhinebeck, and it was all so tempting... Just look at those colors, and how they blend seamlessly.