Knit Along: Noro Legwarmers from Yarn Company - Day 2

Deliriously simple...

I’d forgotten how different Noro feels before you wash and block it.  I end up so transfixed by the colors that I forget it has always struck me as scratchy at first--even though this is the first time I’ve worked with Noro Taiyo, which is sock weight.  Finer fibers don’t make it softer, it still has that scratchy, natural feel. It never stays that way, but I somehow expect the texture to live up to the spectacular color.  And it does, just not while you’re knitting it.  That’s a bit of a letdown for someone as tactile as me, because I’m so affected by the feel of a yarn.  I need that “oooo” factor as I work it between my fingers.  

It’s why I’m so picky about my needles, too, and why I happily plunked down good money for a set of KnitPick’s Options Interchangable Harmony Wood needles--but NOT until I’d touched them. They don't show up in this photo, but you'll see them soon.  That "gotta touch" impulse is why I hardly ever buy stuff online...I need to touch it.  Even technology like laptops and cellphones--I must know what it feels like in my hands before I buy it. What about you?

This pattern from The Yarn Company is deliriously simple.  A bit of ribbing, two feet of regular increases, a bit more ribbing, and you’re done.  I think that’s why Noro works so well in this project--I’d go bonkers with a tweed or a solid color yarn.  All that stockinette could numb your brain.  This is an excellent project for sitting in a lecture, watching TV, that sort of thing.  I'd never classify it as entertaining enough for travel, although it's certainly portable enough.  You don't even need a stitch counter if you can read your rows correctly (more on that useful skill in the next installment).

I suspect the challenge will come for me where it always does in these sorts of projects:  making myself stay focused long enough to do the second one.  I’ve got a single sock and a lonely mitten ready to stand witness to my “second sock syndrome.”  

Anyone got good ideas for cures?  Effective bribes--I mean incentives?  I’m all ears...