With the rise of the Canadian dollar, yarn purchases at all those lovely online US shops is becoming very cost effective. I ordered sock yarns from Knitpicks, and for under 50 dollars, including shipping, got this.
Well, its not even all of it. I have 2 balls of each of the lovely Palette colours. They would not all stay on the chair. 2 also of the wonderfully teal green skein, a Gloss yarn and the taupe colour in the background is Shadow in the Oregon Coast colourway. I'm a wee bit disappointed in how browny taupe this is, but what they heck for $2.49 for each of my 3 skeins, I'll love it anyway. I firmly believe in supporting my LYS, but sometimes, for variety, for price, for new yarn experiences, you have to get out there and try some of the online products you will never find locally.
I like to feel yarn. My trips to yarn stores are very tactile, very touchy feely. The risk of online purchases (besides the little colour foibles) is what will it feel like, how will it slip through my fingers? I've taken the risk before with the estimable Red Bird Knits, and been pleased with my choices. Beyond pleased to be totally honest. Her Romney Sock yarn is delicious.
After online yarn contemplation, and purchase, you get to wait and wonder. Opening the box is like Christmas, as I am sure you can all testify. Immediately after my initial yarny delight, the very first thing I do is get some needles, and give some of the new stuff a try. You could call it swatches, but I call it socks.
I cast on for a toe, and worked to the end of the increases. This morning I picked a pattern from the Encyclopedia of Stitchery , a diagonal rib pattern and went to town. I'm going to see if I can put the pattern on the sock all the way up. I've already made one mistake, but I'm going to wait a wee bit longer to see if I'm getting the texture I am looking for before I rip back. Its a buttery soft yarn, which glides smoothly through my hands, but by its very nature, it may not be a yarn that you can rip back more than once or twice before the yarn starts to suffer. But doubt it not, I am developing a deep and abiding love for this yarn.
This sock is not all I did last night. I did a couple of inches on my shawl. I think I am to the point on the shawl where this is the best way to measure my work. The blue is continuing to do wondrous things among the green, and golds and rusts. What a colourway.
I still have not worked up the courage to rip back the vest. I might consider hating myself for that lack of fortitude, but it is after all only yarn and I think I fully redeem myself if I show you the other yarn I picked up to do the variation on a Calorimetry. I'm going to try a slightly different pattern, the Panta, rather than developing my own pattern. It might be a better fit for yarns that are not so resilient as wool. 
My daughter-in-law does not use animal products in any way, so the Cotton Ease, and the Lion Brand Suede yarn is for her, and SS has requested another Calorimetry, so the SWS soy yarn from Patons is for her.
It looks like a lot of yarn, it looks like an unreasonable amount if you don't knit socks but it's being worked up surprisingly fast. The socks keep rolling off the needles, and the gratification of finished things makes me keep coming back for more.
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