Progress, Sock-wise and (sort of) Sweater-wise

The Most Beautiful Socks I've Ever Knit are coming along nicely. I'm past the heel gusset on the first one:


Sorry for the poor picture quality. I keep forgetting to take pictures during the day and can't quite work out how to take nice, clear ones at night.

The only problem I'm having is that the yarn keeps getting twisted, like so:

I have to keep dangling it so it can unspin itself. I haven't had this problem since I first started knitting, I'm not sure why it's happening now. Maybe something to do with the yarn?

Finally, after many hours of searching for free sweater patterns on the internet, I decided to knit Bristow for my mother. I bought the yarn tonight. For the first time ever I'm actually using the yarn suggested by the pattern - Knit Picks Andean Silk in Olive. It'll definitely be the most difficult thing I've done, but it's a Christmas present, so I have time to mess up once or twice.

I also started a Knit Picks Options collection. Lately I've been thinking a lot about the absolutely ridiculous number of needles you need to have around - in every size you can have various lengths of circulars, two lengths of straights, DPN's... there are just so many. If I like the Options needles I ordered and find that I can knit straight things well with cable needles, I'm going to start just buying new Options tips when I need more needle sizes. Then the only other thing I'll need will be DPN's, which I already have a nice collection of.

I know that a lot of people are loyal to one type or needle or another (bamboo, wood, nickel, aluminum...). I've decided I'm definitely a metal girl. The only other thing I've ever used has been bamboo, and it drives me crazy. Much too sticky. I love the aluminum DPN's I have, and am excited about the nickel-plated Options needles.