Matching hand-painted yarn to the perfect pattern can be a frustrating or an exhilarating experience. Get it right and you end up with a sock where the colors in the yarn and the pattern enhance each other for a great result. Get it wrong and you end up with unattractive pools of color or a stitch design that gets lost in the yarn.

When I was very young, a trip to the movies meant the drive-in and always included a box of red licorice, forever linking the two in my mind. Although some will insist that only the black is “real” licorice, I’m firmly in the red camp.