I'm a sock newbie and I'm having a difficult time choosing a sock yarm. I don't have a yarn store nearby so I've been looking online but it's difficult to judge yarns I've never come into contact with by online descriptions. Especially since I have never worked with sock yarn before.

Ideally I'd like something light, highly breathable, soft to silky-ish, and stretchy. I'm pretty darn warm-bodied (I've been called a 'human space heater') and I live in coastal South Carolina so I need something that won't make my feet melt off. I'm thinking 100% wool might not be for me and that seems to be what I find the most of. I guess I'm concerned about a blind purchase since of course most sock yarn is intended to be toasty warm which is not exactly what I'm looking for.
And of course I want something that won't drive me insane trying to work with it.

I really love the colorways of the Opal Rainforest collection. I've researched this yarn a lot but still can't get a good feel for it. If someone could describe it for me (thickness, softness, ease of working with it, needle size to get generic sock gauge, etc).

Also, I'm considering ordering some 5" Brittany Birch DPNs. Any thoughts on these?

Any insight that might help me on my (thus far rather confusing) search would be *greatly* appreciated!

Thanks!

This hat should have been finished last night but there was an unfortunate incident with a renegade DPN that lead to a very unhappy frogging session. No more aluminum DPNs for me. Happily I resurected the hat tonight while enjoying the new X-Men movie. My brother now thinks I'm nuts for knitting during the movie.

the hat:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/thekittenavenger3/fluffy_hat_no_head_w.jpg

the hat in action:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/thekittenavenger3/fluffy_hat_w.jpg

Wool Ease worsted and Modea fluff... pattern of my own simple creation.

Yay, I finally actually completed a crochet project! No pattern, and I charted the letters out myself so I'm pretty proud.
Did the first two over the weekend and the second two yeterday.

The pictures of the first two are awful. You'll have to excuse the quality (and color issues) of my camera phone since it's all I have for now.

These are actually vibrant orange and purple. I dyed the yarn myself. Clemson colors for the boy (this shows extra love, me being a Carolina fan and all )...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/thekittenavenger3/both_potholders_table.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/thekittenavenger3/both_potholders_backs.jpg


These are my mom's initials for mother's day.

In progress:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/thekittenavenger3/moms_potholders_front_inprogress.jpg

Excuse the mess...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/thekittenavenger3/moms_potholders.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/thekittenavenger3/moms_potholders_back.jpg

This one is my favorite

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/thekittenavenger3/J_potholder.jpg

I have spent an alarming percentage of my afternoon browsing the Branching Out KAL thread and shopping for yarn online. I posted this at the end of the KAL thread but it occurred to me that I'd likely get a wider response here (and I'm super eager to get started so I need quicker info to make my final ordering decisions)

I really want to knit this scarf and I really want to make something out of alpaca. Would I have a problem making this out of a DK alpaca?
I've never knit with alpaca before. Been knitting about six months now. I've done a couple easy lace projects so the pattern doesn't really scare me anymore but I always have to start everything three times before I really get rolling.

I'm looking at the following:

Plymouth DK 100% Baby Alpaca
Elann Peruvian Collection Quechua
Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk
KnitPicks Elegance

What do you think I'd be best off using? I'm ordering blind here so I'd love suggestions (and I'm dirt poor so discount places would be appreciated as well).

So excited. Want.Yarn.NOW!

Hi!
I recently picked up the new SnB Crochet book and I'm completely in love with the cowboy hat. The pattern uses Lion Cotton but I want to make mine in a nice brown so I'm looking for a replacement yarn. I'm not familiar with cotton yarn at all so I'm wondering if anyone can suggest some possible substitutions that would work well and might come in a nice brown (preferable a medium/dark color).
Thanks!
-M