I am also very allergic to wool, and if you all don’t mind my asking, has anyone else with wool allergies had any luck with the alpaca wools? I have to be very careful about trying new fibers as I’m subject to skin breakdowns due to a spinal cord injury. I’d hate to invest in a projects worth of pure alpaca, only to find out I can’t use it.
Linda
You are welcomed. I just remembered that there is a German(I think) knitting magazine called “Rebecca” which has a website and might be a source of information.
Susan in NC
:XX:[/quote]
I’ve heard of that magazine, so I guess I’ll be able to find it here. problem with most magazines it that they use a lot of wool, especially in winter. (I always have to use different yarn) usually there is no information about a good substitute for the used yarn.
I just found out they use the word “polyamide” here for nylon (always tought it would be the same, because we also know nylon here) I hope that will make my search easier.
I haven’t used it yet, didn’t even know it excisted. I’ll look if I can find it, my allergy is that bad I only have to touch the yarn for a few seconds to have a reaction (not a really bad one, only a little bit of itching).
I know that feeling all to well, I had a permanent rash on my arms during basic training from the wool blankets on our beds. The only way I keep it off my face was to wrap the top sheet over the blanket a few inches at night. I still get itchy just thinking about it. I hope your knee heals quickly, and you have better luck finding a workable yarn for your socks.
Linda
Ii have made socks with acrylic yarn, and I have a pattern for socks made with chunky yarn, which I wear in my boots. The acrylic doesn’t breathe too much for socks, though, but I wear mine all the time. They are thick socks, which is fine in Canadian winter. Do you have a pattern for acrylic socks? There are some on the internet I think. If you can’t find one, let me know! Good luck! :XX: samm
do you need a special pattern for acrylic yarn?
I do have a dutch pattern, but that one is for wool. what’s the difference between a pattern for acrylic yarn and yarn with wool in it?
I’ve also got a table for the number of stitches you have to cast on for yarn that’ll need a 3-4mm needle (don’t know the US size, we don’t use that size here in the Netherlands), which’ll match my acrylic.
If I can use acrylic, I’ll just take some of my yarn which I bought for my scarf. I have 500 gram for 1 scarf, so that’ll be to much anyway.
And I do need some thick socks for winter, so my toes won’t freeze of (I’m always really cold)
You can find a pattern for worsted weight socks in acrylic here.
Thanks a lot. I’ve read the pattern, and I don’t see much difference with my dutch pattern. The only difference I see is less stitches, so I’ll look at my gauge to see which pattern is best for me.
Glad to help! I love the Bernat site… I can nearly always find something to knit or crochet there.
well, I started on my socks today. I used my dutch pattern, because the gauge was more similar. I’ve only knitted about 1 cm, but it doesn’t feel elastic to me. Is that just a matter of waiting till they are longer, or will it stay that way, because right now, I don’t think they’ll fit.
If I really like knitting socks I might order the elann yarn.
I just googled “yarn stores in europe” and one of the first ones was this one - http://www.angelyarns.com/, it is out of England but they ship everywhere. Not sure if they will have the exact yarn you need but they do have a large variety of it so maybe?
I hope this might help you out some…
edited to add that I am sure that if you emailed them and asked them about sock yarn that would work for you (no wool and strechy enough to have memory), they would try to help you out. More then likely someone else has asked them this before. veel succes
well, thanks a lot for the information. I just looked at this site, but don’t have much time to look at every type of yarn, so haven’t found something jet. First, I will finish my acrylic socks. If they don’t fit, well, that’s to bad. At least I do know if I like to knit socks when I’m finished.
I would be glad to ship the Cascade to you if you pm your address. Just let me know how much of what you want.
well, thanks a lot for offering. I’ll keep that in mind. When I can’t find anything in the large yarn shop I’ll pm you.
http://www.sldknitting.com/fu.html
This place has a soy-based sock yarn, the Okara Socks. I’ve never felt or tried it myself though. I think she is having a sale as well.
If you don’t mind ordering yarn online this german yarn shop has cotton sock yarn without wool. I hope linking to that yarn directly works, but if not, it’s the “Flotte Socke Baumwolle”.
This shop has two cotton sock yarns in solid colors on sale! It’s under sockengarn and called “GGH Sprint”.
I searched several german online shops, but sadly these are the only ones I found something.
I guess shipping within europe will be less than if you order from the US.
well, thanks for the suggestions. I don’t mind ordering in online-shops, but I prefer to go to a real yarn shop, so as soon as I’m able to, I’ll first do that. But, when I can’t find anything, I’ll probably use one of the online-shops to order some yarn. I really like knitting socks, (although acrylic isn’t ideal) so I guess it’s worth it.
:cheering: :cheering: :cheering: YAY!!! Another sock addict!!! :cheering: :cheering: :cheering:
well, I’m afraid that’s what’s happening :oops:
on the elann-site I saw a great book with 70 sock patterns (socks socks socks) and guess what, I can also order it here in the Netherlands. Lucky me, my birthday is in less than 2 months :rofling:
I too am succumbing to the sock addition! :shock: I stayed up until almost 3AM working on my first sock last night! :roflhard: I am using Cascade Fixation (cotton/nylon) cause wool socks would have my feet looking like red itching canned hams in no time flat!
Susan the Sop 1 in NC
:XX: (but not with wool)
I know this is an old thread, but I happened to run into some info that I thought might be useful to all the non-wooly sock knitters out there. Here’s the link:
She has a fairly long list of different non-wooly sock yarns and offers comments on each of them.