I wrote this post a few weeks ago and saved it because I knew it would be hard to write new posts during tax season. I have some things to add to it, though, so here it is in two parts.
Part The First, 1-27-2007:

See that glob on the right? That's what I ended up pulling out of the "center-pull skein"* on the left. Since I'm planning to make a pair of toe-up socks from this and wanted to divide the 100 gram skein exactly in half, I happened to have my scale handy. The original skein? 96 grams (where are my other 4 grams, guys?) The glob? 24 grams. That's exactly 25% of the skein that came out -- and not easily, I might add -- when I tried to find the end. Grrrr. It was a tangled mess to 1, find the end, and B, wind this into 2 actual center-pull balls. As I am a stoic Scandinavian (is there any other kind?) there was no swearing or flinging of objects, although there were gritted teeth and heavy sighing.
It was not a fluke, either. I have 3 of these puppies, in slightly different colors, in my stash. Every single one of them was short -- two by 4 grams and one by 7(!) -- and had this unholy mess in the center. I sent a fourth skein to my Knitters' Coffee Swap buddy because the dominant color was purple, her favorite color.
Sorry, Susan. I didn't know. Now you are warned of what to expect when you attempt to actually use this yarn.
The yarn is Online Supersocke 100 Highland Color. This is the only yarn of that brand I have ever purchased; YMMV -- I certainly hope so. The knitting experience had better be more pleasant than the winding experience.
Later that day:
The knitting experience is... mixed. (btw, don't adjust your monitor -- I'm knitting from a different skein than I photographed at the beginning. Similar, but different colors of blue.) I like the way the yarn looks knitted -- there will be some subtle striping, which I like. But the feel of the yarn, um... stinks. It is hard; it feels like woolen wire -- no loft, no softness. There is a marked difference between the black toe, knitted from KnitPicks Essential (their basic superwash wool blend sock yarn), which is soft and yummy, and the tweedy foot, which is rather hard and harsh in comparison.
All I can hope now is that the tweedy yarn softens and blooms when washed. Keep your fingers crossed for me. And for the recipients -- these, plus a pair knitted from the first skein, above, are intended to be gifts.
* These are not superfluous quotation marks. They are sarcasm tongs. Thanks to Big Alice for the term.
Part The Second, 2-17-2007:
The sock is growing, albeit slowly.
If all the knitting I have done on this sock were still present, I'd be halfway through the second sock. But because I'm using different yarn and different size needles than the Widdershins pattern calls for, I'm having to knit and frog, knit and frog. The woolen wire, aka yarn, seems to be pretty sturdy, though; it shows no signs of wear from all the abuse it is taking. Before you ask, the heel is the black KnitPicks sock yarn being knit with some of the gray reinforcing wool/nylon that comes in the center of every Lang Jawolle skein of sock yarn. I have other, non-sock plans for my Jawolle so I decided to use the reinforcing yarn here. I quite like how it make the heel tweedy just like the rest of the sock. Too bad I didn't think of it before I started the toe :-(
Susan, my Coffee Swap buddy, has started her sock. She too found the unholy mess that is the center-pull of this yarn in the skein. But she is too nice to comment on the quality of the yarn.
Carole of caroleknits.com recently posted pictures of a lovely pair of socks that she knitted from another colorway of this yarn. Her take on the yarn -- and she is a far, far more experienced knitter than I -- is that it should wear well because of the tight twist. I think she is right; so I will just suck it up and make the socks. Not everything has to be knitted out of sensuous yarn, right? Sometimes utility (and colors) should be sufficient.
Also, before you ask, the pink knitted background is a Dulaan sweater. I finished it last weekend and blocked it last night. More info to come.