Knitting Supplemental: Irritated Again

If there is one thing Knit Picks does that irritates the heck out of me, it is that they are constantly discontinuing yarn colors. I can't knit fast enough to get to every colorway I want to try, and usually by the time I get to something, *POOF* they've discontinued it.

I now notice that their Kettle Dyed Stroll sock yarns are all on sale. This fills me with a profound feeling of dread, not only because my beloved "Eggplant" has "Last Chance" next to it, but because I am the WORLD'S SLOWEST SOCK KNITTER.

I'm about to give up. I could live with "Petunia" being discontinued. I was irritated with the hot pink cottlin being discontinued, but I had used *some* so I wasn't despondent. But what has Knit Picks got against PURPLE? Seems like every line of yarns I like, the purples are limited, muddy, or being discontinued.

Knit Picks needs to learn that the entire world does NOT have the same color-palette taste that they do. If they're doing these things from a numbers/sales standpoint, then hey, I guess I can understand... although keeping a limited amount of low-selling colors on hand doesn't really cost them anything. It's a web store, not brick and mortar. But my impression is that they're making their decisions based on what the people around the office like, and that's the kind of thing that just bothers me.

The KP gals may not be able to think of a good use for the bright color "Caution" so they strip it from the line. Unfortunately, it's one of the perfect colors for a Harry Potter scarf in Gryffendor house colors.

Here's the thing. If I knit myself a pair of socks this year, and in two years time they wear out and I want to re-knit them, or repair them, I want to be able to do so. Unfortunately, the Knit Picks color lines seem flighty and unstable.

I was just knitting the great "Spot Check Socks" from the book "Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn". I was knitting them with Essential Kettle Dyed for the solid, and Stroll Handpainted for the multi-colored, and I was struck how nice and snuggly a sweater this would make. (The sock is knitted cuff-down, so it looks like the beginning of a sleeve). Unfortunately, while I would wear gold socks, I would never wear a gold sweater, so I was browsing the KP site to look for a better color combination. That's when I discovered the dreaded "Last Chance" tag.

Now I don't dare order enough for a sweater, because what if I don't order enough, get to near-completion, and find out it's been discontinued? UGH.