First off: KNITPICKS! SCOTLAND! TWATWEASEL! Now that that's out of the way....

I finally succumbed to the call of cheap internet yarn.

When I moved a few months ago, I lost my LYS (Knit 'N' Knibble in Tampa, if you're in the area stop in, pet the yarn, and tell Caroline I said hello!). And then the local Jo Ann moved farther away, so my only source of yarn is Wal-Mart. Now, I've used my fair share of Red Heart and Simply Soft, and they definitely have their place in the world (I'm the ultimate Lazy Laundress... no way am I handwashing a wool afghan), but sometimes a body has to knit socks. Or lace. Or felt something.

And that's where Knitpicks comes in. For only marginally cheaper than Wally World, you can get fibers that come from an actual animal. Apparently they also sell some ballin' circular needles, but I haven't fallen for those yet.

In case you missed the Shopping Spree post, here's the picture of my Knitpicks loot:

4 skeins of Essential, two kettle-dyed in Jay and two regular-dyed in black. Total wallet damage: $19.15 with shipping ($10 of which came out of my Project Wonderful ad money, thanks adverteisers for contributing to the yarn fund!).

So far, I've knit up all of the Jay and just cast on with the black.

The yarn has a little bit of fuzz to it. The Jay was knit into a lacy pattern, and you can still see the stitches clearly, even though they're not extremely well-defined. The finished fabric has nice stretch to it and springs back into place easily. It's some of the softest sock yarn I've ever touched.

No wear report as the socks are for a Christmas gift, but I'll update later after they've been washed a few times. I expect some pilling because of the fuzziness, but hopefully not too bad.