Hello forum friends!
Sheldon and I have been busy on Sunday nights, putting out a Facebook Live show. We did not promote it ahead of time, just jumped in to get our feet wet. It feels like we are getting the hang of it all, although we’re still ironing out some annoying technical glitches! (so bear with us)
I thought you would all enjoy watching last night’s episode, where we are talking about Holiday Knitting!
READ THIS FIRST: the Start time is at 1 min 30 seconds Also, a warning, the audio drops out while showing both sock photos, so you won’t hear me rambling on about how worsted weight yarn–like the sock in the second photo–is a faster project for a first-time sock knitter, or how knit thick like that, they make great house slippers!
I didn’t get to watch the whole thing, but what I saw the audio worked well. On a few previous episodes the audio on my computer was so bad with echoing, etc it was unwatchable. Glad you’re figuring it out! Will try to watch this one today.
Yeah, Jan, our episode last week had something horribly loud and weird going on with an echo. We figured it out finally, so it’s watchable after the 7 minute mark! Too bad Facebook doesn’t let us trim the footage after the fact!
@Mike, @Jan_in_CA is correct. Any worsted weight yarn would work for sock yarn. Traditionally, sock yarn is 75%-85% wool (usually superwash) with the remainder being nylon. However, I’ve knitted socks using finger weight cotton with some sort of elastic in it that made the yarn stretchy (so your socks don’t fall down ) and I’ve made socks using handspun wool with no nylon at all. The handspun socks needed to be hand washed and blocked, the other socks are laundered in the machine.
The nylon gives the wool extra durability so you won’t be wearing holes on the soles & heels as quickly … but perhaps you knew all this …
Doing a quick search in Ravelry for sock patterns using worsted weight yarns containing wool & nylon, I came up with the following wool/nylon combinations: Novita 7 Veljestä (Aran), Navia Faroese Sock Wool, Viking of Norway Raggen, Berroco Vintage, Knit Picks Chroma, Knit Picks Felici, Dream in Color Classy with Cashmere, you could even get by using Plymouth Encore (75% acrylic, 25% wool) or Lion Brand Wool-Ease (80% acrylic, 20% wool).
I’ll have to look at some of those. I don’t know if acrylic would last, my 100% acrylic worsted lasted less than my 100% wool worsted. Chroma is nylon/wool though.
Chroma is 70/30 Superwash/Nylon … it will be a great candidate for worsted weight sock yarn.
Knit Picks Felici is 75/25 but only available not dyed … got a hankering to dye your own sock yarn??
Viking of Norway Raggen is a great choice. It is also 70/30 and available in the U.S. from Paradise Fibers and Spindle, Shuttle & Needle. I’ve known the young(er) folks, Phillip & Kelsey Patton) that run Spindle, Shuttle & Needle for quite a few years. (I bought my last spinning wheel from Kelsey 3 years ago and knew her well before then.)
I watched it! It was great! I didn’t know you had a store! Will definitely have to go check it out. I have a terrible time trying to find Knitters Pride interchangeable needles! Loved all the patterns you showed. I took a few screen shots and will go searching through your free pattern section for them! I know it’s well after Christmas, but my niece always wants me to knit socks for her. The funkier the better! Thanks for sharing this here. I wouldn’t have known you had done the fireside chats otherwise. Gonna definitely make some mug cozzies and the gift card ‘socks’ are brilliant! This forum is my go to place for help. Glad it’s here…
) and I’ve made socks using handspun wool with no nylon at all. The handspun socks needed to be hand washed and blocked, the other socks are laundered in the machine.
