Lately, I've been at my spinning wheel finishing up projects like trying to complete my yarns before the plys sit around for too long and lose their energy. The above fiber is from The Painted Tiger and is New England Wool Top dyed in beautiful shades of blue. Navy blue is my favorite color, besides orange that is, and I love finding it in yarns and fiber as I know it will go with all the clothes I own. I also purchased this fiber for it's "type' which is really a region and not a specific sheep, basically a representative of American sheep in the Eastern United States. It's not super soft, but is rumored to be hard wearing which suited my needs for luscious blue socks. Now, I am still pretty new to spinning (as can be seen in the tangled mass of plys plied in the wrong direction in the photos above) and I realized I should have given this yarn more twist to make it stronger and more durable. Thus, I am a little forlorn to have gone to so much effort for socks which might not last as long as I want (which is forever of course.) The yarn turned out to be a bit thicker than planned which pushed me to use US size 3 needles instead of the US size 1s I would normally choose for socks. They were knit from a general gusseted heel toe up sock pattern from Wendy Johnson's book Socks from the Toe Up. Honestly, I have yet to knit any complicated sock patterns as the yarn always seems pretty enough in a simple ribbed pattern. Which is your "go to"sock pattern?
Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Amanda for Fibre Arts Friday.
representative
of American sheep in the Eastern United States - See more at:
http://www.thepaintedtiger.com/category_69/New-England-Wool-Top.htm#sthash.GZdPT2AY.dpuf
representative
of American sheep in the Eastern United States - See more at:
http://www.thepaintedtiger.com/category_69/New-England-Wool-Top.htm#sthash.GZdPT2AY.dpuf
I completely agree with you! I have purchased a book with a whole collection of nicely patterned socks, but I keep just knitting plain ribbed ones so I can see the YARN rather than the pattern. I LOVE your new socks.
ReplyDeleteThanks! That's great to hear! I sometimes feel like a wimp for not doing more complicated sock patterns, but I just love my ribbed socks.
DeleteI love Conwy from Nancy Bush when I was knitting socks. A little bit of detail but not too much. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/conwy
ReplyDeleteOoo...those are nice. I'll have to add them to my faves.
DeleteThey will last. Just wash carefully by hand and save the extra yarn for mending and darning.
ReplyDeleteThey are beauti-mous. Blue is my favorite color, too and these are great.
That's a great idea to save some yarn for darning. I usually don't keep my leftovers, but maybe a repair kit stash is in order. Thanks!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThey are such a beautiful blue.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI love the color of your handspun socks. I do all my socks on #1's if I can, too. I save my scraps in a special bag in case I'll have to mend. Made DIL a pr. of pink socks that she wore out in 3 mos wearing clogs so tore out the whole toe decreases and re-knit. No fun! Told here they were now town socks only and made her a another pr. of pinks out of a sturdier yarn! Sure wish my spinning could advance past lumpy-bumpy....
ReplyDeleteWow that's a big repair! I once made some socks out just merino yarn (no nylon) and they wore out so fast. Now, I pick yarn and fiber that's tougher in general or has nylon added. You'll get past lumpy bumpy. Try out lots of different fibers and see what works best for you. My favorite is Shetland as it drafts so easily.
DeleteBeautiful work!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Delete