For Christmas, I was given some cash and rather than do anything sensible with it, like put it into savings or pay off bills or something smart like that, I actually went and bought myself a gift. I had been wanting to pick up a couple skeins of something from KnitPicks and since I'd just gotten into sock knitting I figured I'd try my hand at knitting with some "real" sock yarn. So I purchased two skeins of KnitPicks' "Essential" in "Dusk" along with a couple books.

The yarn arrived a couple weeks ago, and since then, I've tried knitting several different socks with it. I pulled all of them out, frustrated because I could not see the pattern that was forming and because I kept skipping stitches or dropping them.

Now, I'm a fairly conscientious knitter and I'm not the type to give up easily, even when frustrated. I don't typically drop stitches and if I make a mistake I pull everything out and go back to fix it. But with this yarn? Nothing doing. It was so impossible to see where I'd even made the mistake, and so ridiculously hard to put the stitches back on after frogging that I figured I wouldn't even bother.

Well, tonight I gave up the ghost. I pulled out what I'd knitted (probably 20 rounds), wound the yarn back up and put it in my yarn basket, never to be seen again. Or, at least not for a while...

My mom, bless her, did try to warn me. But I wouldn't be dissuaded. No, it seems I'd rather beat my head against a wall rather than take some experienced advice. Actually, what I wanted was to give "real" sock knitting a try and now I've done so. But it turns out my mom was right. Knitting with this tiny yarn is like having hair removed from your legs with tweezers, one follicle at a time. Blaghhhh. The only saving grace with this little misadventure is that it was only a $6 mistake lesson. Thank God I didn't spend a fortune on this yarn.

I want to continue knitting socks, because I really enjoyed the first pair I made - which were knitted on size 5s with some dk-weight wool/cotton - and I think my trouble this time around stemmed from the teeny-tiny nature of the sock yarn itself. After giving up on the Essential, I pulled out some Debblie Bliss Baby Cashmerino I had in my stash and started a sock based on the basic pattern in the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and my own cable design; so far, it's going pretty well.

So what I'm wondering now is whether other knitters have tried this yarn and if they've had any success with it. And if not, is there a better sock yarn to try that isn't so maddeningly small? My guess is that the answer to this question is no..."Real" sock weight yarn is tiny and perhaps I need to just content myself with knitting socks that are a bit thicker?? I guess we shall see... And in the meantime, feedback and input gratefully accepted! I'll post photos of the latest sock when I get a bit more length so the design can be seen.