Just came to you from Rowan discussion site, love the socks, knitted my first sock (grey tweedy wool) about a month ago, cannot work up the energy to get that second one done. Just back from staying with my brother in finger lake country New York State, was VERY hot, back to reality in England. Cold with a very green back garden that I am passing off as a wild life sanctuary. Miserable journey from Manchester, not allowed to take knitting or crochet onto plane in hand luggage, then held up in Newark by a thunderstorm and had nothing to do with my hands. Knitting like a madwoman now.

I had that exact problem with my Opal 6 ply yarn. I was knitting along from the center pull when --pop-- a big gob of yarn. I put up with it for the first sock, but I am going to rewind the yarn for the second. Argh.

You need to repot it in ericaceous soil and also feed it an iron based plant food - both are easily available in garden centres. That will turn the flowers back to blue.

I love your hydrageas just as they are! And I especially love the way your socks match them! ;)

I love your hydrageas just as they are! And I especially love the way your socks match them! ;)

Oh, I can't stand those parents who give the rest of us such a bad reputation! Hope you let your New York show a little bit.

Do bury something in the garden if you don't like the hydrangea color and it will make you feel better. I'm optimistic about the Regia. xoxo Kay

Oh I love hydrangia. It always amazes me that you can have multiple colors on what seems to be one plant (is it?) and how it'st he checmical makeup of the ground that effects the color. Amazing. I like the sock too, it reminds me very much of your hyrangia.

Oh Polly!! Hugs to you :) What a beautiful flower. We have the blue ones too.. they are my favorite :)

Here is to hoping that that kid takes a chunk out of the mother one day :)

And you send me the glob... I'll undo it.

Hi Polly! Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for your support :)

Hi Polly.My grandmother buried a piece of iron next to her hydrangea.My memory, though that is probably going soft now, is that this turned them pink. But I am sure I have seen crystals or something in the garen centre sold to colour hydrangeas. It probably just means the soil needs feeding with something maybe Sulphur? sequestered iron?
Like the sock a lot!

I think your socks are just beautiful- as are the hydrangea flowers. The ones gone to pinky grey match your sock yarn!! Knit quick and the socks will sooth your poor bruised foot nicely..

I had a good chuckle about wishing your Mom was their to untangle your Opal. Mine is simply the BEST when it comes to getting out a birds nest.................the last mess she untagled for me was a huge skein of handpainted lace wight merino that the puppies got a hold of
ACK! Gotta' love our Moms!

Hey, Polly, I found this website: http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/colorchange.html
A quick excerpt: "It is much easier to change a hydrangea from pink to blue than it is from blue to pink. Changing a hydrangea from pink to blue entails adding aluminum to the soil. Changing from blue to pink means subtracting aluminum from the soil or taking it out of reach of the hydrangea." It also states "It is much easier to control or alter the pH of the soil in a container than it is in the ground." - so it looks like you might be onto a winner there. :)

Maybe this is an old wives tale but aren't hydrangeas supposed to change color with barometric changes? Much like litmus paper, don't they turn pink when it's supposed to rain?
As far a yarn "barf globs" go, I read that there are always different sized ends to each round skein, one bigger and looser and one tighter and smaller...If you stick your fingers in both ends of the skein, the end of the yarn is always found in (and should be pulled from) the larger/looser end. Also, when you find the outer end under the ball band, the direction that outer end is pointing to is where the inner end can be found. I have no clue where I read these little nuggets but they have worked for me every time since! (and I'm sock addicted so I have LOTS of potential "barf globs", LOL)
Hope this helps, Polly!

Bring back the birch, that's what I say :o)

I thought it was copper sulphate that turned hydrangeas blue....I too like the way yours is turning mauve (it's not muddy pink). I also went to the Next sale at Kew - couldn't find anything I liked in my size. Did You? You should have stomped right back on that kid's foot and then grovelled an apology....When my nephew was 6 yrs. old he kicked me hard in the shins and I kicked him straight back....he still remembers it now, he is 30 and a lovely chap, says it stopped him ever doing it again and said he was so surprised at the time, no one had ever kicked him back before.

Could be worse. I saw the photo of your sock yarn and thought it was motheaten! Opal seems to be worse for tangles than other yarn, I wonder if anyone else has noticed this?
I love the colours of this yarn as well, what's the opal line?
One way to get round rude children and obnoxious parents is to tell the child off, loudly, and in front of their parent! If they're reasonable, they might not have noticed/been too busy, if they're not, it gets it off your chest to have a steaming row!

Dawn

We all have that kind of bad days from time to time and I am sure tomorrow should be brighter...
For the blue Hydrangea, I thought it was slate you had to bury next to it... (that was what my mother told me, but she was no gardener either...)

Socks as ever will be fantastic. I'm not a gradener but I'm sure I read somewhere to keep your hydranga blue is to bury a aliminium can next to it but that could just be my imagination

The sock's look great so far... good luck with the tangled yarn. And, um, I rather like the muddy pink flowers...