Boggart attack!

As fans of Harry Potter may remember, boggarts are malevolent household sprites that do things like make milk spoil and steal small items. I have decided that this house has a boggart who took a liking to my March Trekking socks.

I was through the cuff and heel on my fourth try at sock number 1 when I took a good, hard look. The sock was approximately the correct dimensions, but all that ripping and reknitting had seriously compromised the yarn. In a word, it looked ratty. Since I did not think I had enough untouched yarn to knit a fresh pair of socks, I did something I haven't ever done before: I tossed the WIP and its attached yarn in the trash (removed the needles and marker first, of course).

After giving myself a few days to recover, I returned to Green Planet for replacement yarn. They did not have any more March yarn in stock, of course, so I went with a slightly striped Trekking Pro Natura in greens and blues. I cast on for a FIFTH time a few nights ago on size 2.75 mm needles and made it through 2 repeats before going to bed. The next day I picked up my knitting to find that one needle had disappeared. It turns out that the one size of sock length dps I have ZERO extras for (go figure) is 2.75 mm.

I searched for the boggarted needle for two days, knitting (much slower than usual) on three needles before breaking down and buying a new set of needles today. Five repeats into the cuff for sock #1 it finally looks decent.

Wikipedia says if I hang up a horseshoe I can keep the boggart away. I may need to try that.

PS: My output this month was negligible. One sock monkey, half an Almost Saintly Sock, a quarter of a Mondo Cable Cardi (from Noro Retro purchased at Stitches), and a minimal amount of my March Trekking sock. On top of that, I seriously added to my stash at Stitches and the latest Rockin' Sock Club shipment arrived yesterday (Electric Kool Aid Acid Test -- 'nuf said).

Pictures to follow once I actually finish something.