Osborn Fiber Studio

A few years ago, I bought a lovely skein of yarn at a yarn store northwest of Baltimore (sorry; don’t remember which one). When I go into yarn stores these days, I usually ask if there’s anything local, since there’s not much point in yarn tourism if I can’t get something that I could get in my own store. This was the only one that fit that description. It said it was sock yarn, and it seemed a little hefty, but it was awfully pretty so I just went with it. Here’s what the tag said:

First off, there’s 101% yarn here! That’s kinda awesome. Plenty of yardage, which I like. From a farm that is actually in Connecticut, so not really near Maryland, but whatevs. It’s cool. And it says, pretty clearly and up front, that this yarn is supposed to get 7-8 stitches per inch on US 1-2 needles. So, pretty typical sock gauge. I figured the yarn was just poofy or something, and would compress to a normal sock gauge on the needles.

But then I wound up the yarn into a ball, and the resulting ball was bigger than my baby’s head. (Let’s take a break now for an excessive number of cute pictures.)

Just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, I showed the yarn to my sister-in-law, and asked her what gauge the yarn looked like to her. She said “… worsted?”

But I’m trusting. I give yarn and patterns the benefit of the doubt. I have faith in the system. And I am an idiot.

Fast forward a few weeks, and the socks are pretty close to done. Knitting them on US2s wasn’t exactly therapeutic knitting, but it was doable. They do fit on my feet, even though they’ll be excellent compression socks. Okay, so it was awful, and I should really have knit them on size 4s. But I wasn’t willing to admit that to myself until it was too late to rip them out without murdering something.

Oh, and the ball of yarn? Still about the size a normal 400-yard ball of sock yarn is before the socks are made. When will I stop being so gullible and just trust my instincts?

On the upside? Naomi LOVES this yarn. She sat there and played with it and sucked on it for half an hour while I edited and uploaded pictures. And there will be plenty of baby leftovers to make her a pair of baby legs that will last all winter.

And the yarn is still pretty.