I have been working on a sock pattern from Knitting on the Road Sock Patterns for the Traveling Knitter. Although I am not traveling – in fact I have been firmly planted in the house while the guys are working on the bathroom! I ordered the yarn from Elann. It is a self striping sock yarn. This stuff is mesmerizing — as I knit it up, the stripes emerge (as if by magic!) and the math involved in making this happen boggles my mind! It is the David Blaine of fiber!
I am working the pattern called Friday Harbor. It is lovely. I had a bit of a rough start however. The first hurdle was to find size 2 dpns. The ones I did find are my grandmother’s old ones. The tips are more snub nosed than pointy and it makes working the pattern with such fine yarn challenging. Also the needles are so old that there are some rust marks on them and the yarn does not slide smoothly. buying new needles would be too easy – I must be a masochistic knitter! ;) . Furthermore, the chart for the pattern is misleading and in parts downright wrong. I only thought to look up errata on the Interweave Site after three false starts! ergh! (please read the ergh as growling noise) Is that something other knitters do before they begin, look up any mistakes? Am I so hopelessly naive? I have come a long way though — not too many years ago, it would never have entered my mind that the mistake was the pattern’s, I would have thought I was doing something wrong.
Anyway the socks are coming along nicely and so is the construction work – have I mentioned that I am in love with my contractor?? wink, wink
purlingswine 
Ann, have I got some new needles for you! The folks who I bought the hand-forged bronze cable needles from also make hand-forged bronze dpns in sizes 1, 3, and 6. They have a little twist in the middle of the dpn (like the twist in my cable needles – not enough to catch the yarn, just enough to look pretty). Okay, they are $28 for a set of five, but our Ann is worthy of such fine tools, don’t you think? You can go online to http://villagespinweave.com or call them at 805-686-1192. I really want some, but need to let my bank account recuperate from Stitches. They also make straight needles and crochet hooks (swoon). Might make you forget all about that contractor:-}
Hello Ann. Found your blog while doing a search for other Typepad blogs. Ditto your comment about naivete in following patterns. It never occurred to me that the pattern might be wrong until I started reading lists and blogs. I still tend to take directions as gospel, but I’m feeling more empowered these days to figure it out for myself. Enjoying your blog; I’ll be back.