Sock Yarns on Review

Edited to add: As I still haven't taken pictures of my Berwick jumper, I'm leaving this up for FO / Fibre Arts Friday in case it is of interest ;)

I heartily admit that I may have become a little obsessed with sock knitting since my first pair - I still dream of an all-handknit sock drawer and I'm getting there slowly *laughs*

Having said that, it might seem a little too obsessed to have been pondering my sock drawer earlier (sometimes it takes a while to decide which pair to wear) and have then come up with this post...

I was interested to see how some of the different sock yarns I'd used had been holding up, so I thought it might be interesting/useful/none of the above to do a quick review of the most worn socks and their condition.

I've focused on the socks I wear the most, which have all had roughly the same amount of wear (ok, so this isn't a scientific study but I think it'll be sufficient!). Also worth noting - I handwash all my socks, even the ones that can go in the machine.

Princess Unicorn Socks
Yarn: KnitPicks Imagination: 50% Merino, 25% Alpaca, 25% Nylon 

The heel on these has completely felted, which is perhaps unsurprising as the yarn is particularly soft and fluffy. They are the only princess soles on the list, which makes me wonder if that has any additional properties that might affect wear. Now I'm going to have to make more to test this theory *laughs*


Super Awesome Happy Rainbow Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici: 75% merino, 25% nylon

I love these socks. They're my softest pair and they feel like old friends when I put them on. Being so soft, I am pretty impressed with how the yarn is holding up, often the softer yarns are not the most hard wearing. You can see some pilling on the foot, but it is relatively minor. The heels are a bit felted, but the stitches are still in good condition. Overall, I'm pleased with these ;)



Second Socks
Yarn: Zauberball: 75% wool, 25% nylon

I think these socks are in the worst condition of all of them. To be fair, they have been around the longest (side note, my first socks aren't on this list because I don't wear them very often!) but I also don't wear them as much as some of the others any more.

The foot is completely pilled, it's hard to show because of how dark the yarn is but even this picture demonstrates a lot of pilling. Where it's not pilled the yarn is completely fuzzy. This is probably due to the fact that Zauberball is a single plied yarn, so it gets fuzzed really easily. Regardless, they still feel good on my feet - I just wouldn't knit anything with a pattern, it would be completely obscured.


Socks the Third
Yarn: Silky 4 ply Sock: 80% wool, 20% tencel

When I first finished these socks, the yarn felt all weird and squeaky and I wasn't sure I'd like them. After a wash it was all good, they became soft and lovely. They have also held up probably better than any of the other socks. Minor pilling and fuzzing around the heel but nothing really of note.

The only thing I will say is that the yarn hasn't got much spring to it, the ribbing on the cuffs is a lot looser now, and they feel like they have stretched a little. So maybe they're not holding up as well as I think. The colour is still awesome though (I dyed the yarn myself you see *laughs*)

Starpower Socks

Yarn: Skinny Bugga: 80% merino, 10% nylon, 10% cashmere

These are my most expensive socks. They are also the worst for pilling. Because of the colour and the pattern, it was really hard to get a good picture, so I picked the bobbly bits off one of the socks and took a photo of that instead *laughs*:

I was a little surprised at how badly these have pilled, and a little disappointed if I'm honest. I have another skein of skinny bugga in my stash, and I'm pretty sure I won't be knitting socks with it. It is beautiful yarn, but not cut out for socks. A shame really, I like the luxury of having some cashmere on my feet ;)

Multicoloured Swap Socks
Yarn: Drachenwolle: 75% wool, 25% nylon

I debated whether or not to include these, as they're made with German yarn that might not be easily accessible to other people (I got it in a swap). But then I looked at how great the condition was and decided to include them anyway.

They aren't the softest socks in my drawer, but aside from a small amount of fuzziness on the heels, they look the same as the day I finished them.

Drunken Socks of Deformity
Yarn: Moonlight and Laughter Merino Superwash Sock: 100% merino

Sock yarn with no nylon - I expected these to fall apart if I'm honest! They've pilled a little on the feet, and the heels are quite felted, but they're actually much better than I expected. One heel is worse than the other, but if you know the backstory of these socks then that won't come as a surprise ;)

Conclusion

So there you have it - the softest yarns aren't necessarily going to fall to bits after a few wears, the hardiest yarn is still pretty hardy, and the expensive yarn may be best used for something that gets a little less wear than your average pair of socks.

I hope this post has been interesting, or informative, or at least just not horribly dull!

Review - ChiaGoo Swift

For my birthday, my mum bought me a swift. Well, she bought it from my wishlist and when I thanked her for it, confessed that she had no idea what it was and wondered why she had bought me a box of bits of wood *laughs*

There's a reason I chose this particular swift - I don't really have room or the right furniture for a swift that clamps and folds up, so this one that sits on the tabletop seemed like a perfect solution. I thought it would be handy to write a quick review after my experiences of using it. As I mentioned - it was a birthday present from my mum so it wasn't given to me for reviewing purposes, I just thought it might be of interest ;)

Out of the box

See what my mum meant? *laughs* Assembling the pieces took seconds, and everything fit together beautifully. The only thing that bothers me, and this has more to do with my personal design idiosyncrasies than anything else, is that the wood for the dowels doesn't match the wood of the base. I know they're completely different woods, but I'm picky like that *laughs*

In this picture, it kinda looks like a candelabra, doesn't it?! The woodwork has been done really well, so all the slots line up perfectly and fit together in a solid and pleasing way.


Features

Ok, so it's a swift, which isn't something that has a lot of features, but there are a couple of touches I liked. First, the fact that the holes for the dowels are labelled with skein size - although most of my skeins are a relatively standard size. The numbers are lasered in too, so they won't rub off.

The other feature (I say feature but really it's just a nice touch) is the pads on the base, which is good as I'll mostly be using the swift on top of my coffee table, which is an antique chest and I'm pleased that I don't have to worry about scratches.

In Action

I've used the swift twice now. The first time was very exciting (so exciting that I forgot to take any pictures). I wound the yarn by hand - I decided when putting the swift on my wishlist that I would rather have a swift and wind by hand than have a ball winder and still have to drape the yarn over my knees!

The movement of the swift is really smooth. There were a few times where it stuck slightly, but that was entirely to do with the yarn catching on itself and not the swift.

Anyway, I then decided that I wanted all the toys, and bought myself a ball winder too:

Weird looking things, aren't they?

With this, I was able to wind the yarn much faster than I had by hand, so I was interested to see how the swift would fare. I wound as fast as I possibly could (I may have gotten a little carried away *laughs*) and I had no issues at all with the swift. It span quite happily, and was quite meditative to watch ;)

And I ended up with one of those cute little yarn cakes...

I smooshed it a bit when I took it off the winder, but isn't it neat and tidy anyway? Of course now I want to wind all my yarn and stack it up somewhere, but I will try and restrain myself. For now, at least *laughs*