WIP Wednesday and Falling off the Wagon

So I fell off the wagon. Just a little. I went over my yarn budget, but there won't be any bounced checks, overdrafts or charges to my credit card.

There is a sale going on at Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe from now through Saturday. All the yarn is 25% off.

I have good reasons for all of them. The SWTC A-MAIZing yarn in the bottom left is for swatching. (Number 77 on my list.) The Berroco Ultra Alpaca and Noro Silk Garden are for Christmas gifts. (The Fake Isle Hat and one of the Three Tams.) And the skein of Cascade Venezia in the upper left corner matches my eyes. (You can take a closer look at them here.)

Here's a better look at the Noro and the Ultra Alpaca. I think this color of Ultra Alpaca works well with both shades of Silk Garden. Picking out a single shade of Noro is hard enough. Picking a single shade and a coordinating solid is even harder.

After I got home I looked at the FOs for Three Tams on Ravelry. How do you wear a tam anyway? I saw some pictures that made it look like a regular cap. One person blocked theirs on a pie pan. What am I going for, really?

WIP Wednesday

It's Wednesday and lots of other bloggers do WIP Wednesday. Why shouldn't I?

Let's start with spinning. I borrowed my Mom's ginormous Navajo Spindle, but plying the merino singles I spun isn't getting easier. The spinning on my leg technique was hard and my own attempt to spin it like a top didn't work very well either. (And all this yarn won't fit on my drop spindle.)

Meanwhile, I'm actually making negative progress on my Wickerware Socks. I've made a lot of progress since the last time you saw them, but look where I was during my break at work today.

I screwed up the stitch pattern bad enough to bother me, and frogging everything above the red needles was the easiest way to fix it.

Finally, here's my precious Malabrigo Silky Merino, all wound up making it obvious that one skein is much lighter than the other. I'm debating my next move. I can either alternate skeins, hold two strands together and use bigger needles or just hope for the best.

I think some swatching is in order first.