Sunday, July 12, 2015

Sock Yarn - Whining and Cheering Allowed

What can I say?  I really and truly am the worst "blogger" in the universe. I think it's because I don't feel that anything I have to say is that "important".  So, as a result, I rarely blog.

However, during a recent conversation with my adorable, hubby I started prattling on again about knitting and knitting yarns.  (He, being the considerate husband that he is, listened....well, he acted like he was listening.)  The crux of the conversation was about what sock yarns are excellent versus just plain old not worth the time.   That's when I got a brain storm.  I could write a couple of blogs about sock yarn. 

I have a theory that if you spend as much time as most knitters do in making a lovely pair of socks.  They should last a long time....I'm not talking about a couple of months but years. 

The reason that I want to socks to last years is that the socks I knit are for my husband.  I don't really know of very many knitters that knit socks for men.  I'm betting its because, in the case of my husband, he likes his socks to come up to his knees (that's a lot of rib stitches) and he has pretty long feet.  So when I invest that much time in a pair of socks....I don't want to have to knit another pair in a couple of months...unless the mood strikes.

So, with that in mind, I thought I would start with a sock yarn I found on sale.  Yes, I know.....cheap sock yarn probably wasn't the best choice to start analyzing the durability, etc. of sock yarn.  However, there are many knitters out there who may or may not want to spend a lot of their discretionary income on sock yarn.

The sock yarn I would like to discuss is Serenity Sock yarn by Premier Yarns.  http://www.premieryarns.com/product/Premier+Deborah+Norville+Serenity+Sock+Yarn.aspx

The yarn is composed of 50% superwash Merino wool, 25% rayon made from bamboo and 25% nylon.  I liked the feel of the yarn in the craft shop.  The color selection was good and my husband found two colors that he really liked.  The skeins of yarn had several "flaws" in the spinning which left large bumps of unspun fiber.  In addition, the twist of the yarn didn't hold up well resulting in lots of splitting...very annoying. 

After just one day of my husband wearing the socks, I noticed that the fibers were already felting.  Sure, I know that if socks don't fit just right and are too loose they will rub and felt. But this is the 12th pair of socks I have knit for him and none of the others have ever felted the first day.

So, as much as I like the "feel" of this yarn.  I'm just not sure that I would ever use it again for anything that needs to be as durable as a pair of socks.  But on a positive note, I think that it would make some very lovely sweaters or even gloves.

Ok, that's my little opinion.  Hope it helps any sock knitters in the sock knitting universe.

More in a few weeks about my next sock yarn whine or cheer.



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