Captain Midnight and Noro

For those of you wondering about Captain Midnight -- he's doing OK. Some days he goes 24 hours without a blip, and some days he has short bursts of tachycardia. There doesn't seem to be any easily discernible pattern, which is a bit frustrating. On Thursday he goes in to talk with the doctor.

Meanwhile, I continue to knit. (Hey, it's what I do. I could use the practice, and it keeps my hands busy and productive when my brain is occupied with worry. I also find that simple knitting is soothing to the nerves.) The latest project, another pair of socks, is being worked up with Noro Kureyon Sock yarn.

Like most knitters who work with the stuff, I have a love/hate relationship with Noro yarn.

It is rough. It is scratchy (not quite as bad as knitting with barbed wire, but hardly buttery soft). It tends to tangle, clings to itself, and often felts when washed. Sometimes the yarn breaks. It is maddening to come across multiple knots in a skein, since the folks at Noro don't bother to match up the colors.

And yet.

Those colors.

Those beautiful tempting colors.

Though I've fiddled a bit with the gamma correction, the photos really don't do the colors proper justice. Dark purple shading to pops of pink, then to a deep blue-green, and now to green with flecks of yellow. It's just too gorgeous not to knit with.

And that's why we keep coming back. Curse you, Noro!

(Don't worry, I've already promised this is NOT going to turn into a knitting blog.)