Sock Yarn Roundup
May. 5th, 2005 01:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kniteracyI promised this several days ago, after ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cflute sent me some links to some gorgeous sock yarns that I'd never heard of before, and it's taken a little while for me to get all the links together. This is mostly a list with links, although where I've used a particular yarn, I've tried to talk about it a little. Where possible, I've tried to link to the yarn company itself and not just an online store that sells the yarn, but that hasn't been possible in all cases.
If you have other sock yarns to share, please give me links or suggestions in a comment to this post, and I'll add them to a revised version of the list. :)
Harper's Sock Yarn Roundup! Yee-Haw!
These links were alphabetized as an afterthought.
Schaefer Yarns' "Anne" sock yarn is a pricey wool/mohair/nylon sock yarn. The company actually started as a dyeing company, and this yarn is offered in "one-of-a-kind colours."
Blauband, self-striping sock wool from Germany. I haven't used this, but it has nice, wide stripes.
Blue Moon Fiber Arts, the link that started this idea, sells absolutely gorgeous sock yarn colourways. The sock yarn is called Socks That Rock. :-)
Brown Sheep's Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn --I have several skeins of this, and it is a good quality basic sock yarn that comes in a variety of colours practial and vibrant. Early incarnations of Wildfoote had some splitting problems, but in the last two or three years, they've really improved the spin. Everything I've knitted with Wildfoote has ended up looking great.
Cherry Tree Hill, based in Vermont, makes a yarn called Supersock that looks great.
Marks & Kattens has a self-patterning sock yarn called Clown, which has quite a lot of cotton in.
Cascade's Fixation is a very popular sock wool; this suggestion came fromsarakate, in the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sock_knitters community.
Fortissima Socka, from Schoeller+Stahl, comes in a dizzying array of colours and styles. They make my favourite self-patterning sock yarn ever. Unfortunately, they're hard to find in the UK. More US folks may know about them, because they are distributed by Skacel.
Happy Trails sock Yarn is 100% wool, and the "blueberries" colour shown here is really nice.
Hello Yarn's Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn I haven't used this, so I can't comment on the quality, but the colours look good.
Hot Socks, another sock wool I have not used, is on sale at Herrschners. :-)
Idena Crazy Sock Yarn seems to be a self-patterning DK, not unlike Schoeller+Stahl's Big Mexico.
Knitpicks has quite an array of sock yarns, including options from yarn you can dye yourself up to hand-dyed merino, all at pretty good prices. (Thanks toxantha from sock_knitters for this tip!) (further note: alas, Knitpicks will not ship outside the US or Canada, so those of us who live elsewhere are up the proverbial creek.)
Koigu Painter's Palette Premium is a fingering weight woold that seems to be all the rage among American sock knitters.
Kroy sock yarn is another basic sock wool that, you guessed it, I haven't tried yet.
Lane Cervinia, from Italy looks really good. I swear we got some of this in at Nease's once, but the label was really confusing and it got stuck in with a bunch of acrylic, never sold, and put into a bargain bin. Doesn't that pattern look great in the ripple sock? And that Black Forest colour is gorgeous.
Lang Jawoll and Jawoll Colour I haven't used this one either, but Lang is a good old name in European yarns.
Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn comes in lots of colours and is available through several UK retailers. I have a couple of skeins of this back at home, but I haven't made anything with it yet: it all had to be rewound when it was accosted by a mad kitty, so I haven't been looking forward to knitting with the smaller pieces. Other folks rave about it, though.
Meilenweit sock yarn, from Lana Grossa. I haven't used this one either, but they have some great colours.
Mountain Colors Bearfoot -- this is a pricey sock yarn, 100% wool, and I love it. I have made one pair of socks on 3.25mm needles from it, and I'm looking forward to making another pair on much smaller needles, to see if I like the firmer weave. Again, this one is hard to find anywhere but the US-- Mountain Colors isn't a big company. One skein is more than enough for a pair of ankle socks, even for me. Lots of folks seem to like using their part-mohair Mountain Goat for socks as well, but I have never seen it. If it's anywhere near as nice as Bearfoot, bring it on!
Opal Sock Yarn --This is another one of my favourite self-patterning sock yarns; again, the sheer diversity of pattern and colour means I've never been bored knitting this stuff. One ball of Opal makes a pair of ankle socks, even for my big feet.
Patons Patonyle -- I have a couple of skeins of this, but haven't knitted it yet. It was on sale at Spotlight, so Diane and I got four skeins. She started knitting hers before she left, and it looked like it was going to stripe. :) We had colour 4305, which is a colour not appearing on the link, so maybe it had been discontinued, but it was all nice and purpley-pastel.
Regia Sock Yarn -- I love Regia because of the many variations of colour you can get with the self-patterning yarn. I've made socks for both my stepdaughters out of this yarn, and it is a lot of fun to knit with because of the sheer variety of pattern you can get from the yarn. It is a very hard-wearing yarn; for me it works best knit with a very small 2-2.75mm needle. I have used 3.25mm needles with it, though, depending on the kind of sock I want to make.
Silja. This is a Norwegian yarn that I first came across while working at Nease's in Atlanta. It remains one of my favourite sock yarns, though it's a DK weight. Comes in many vibrant colours.
Plymouth's Sockotta sock yarn is a tightly spun sock yarn that has a lot of cotton in it. I have enjoyed knitting with Sockotta, but lots of people who aren't used to knitting with cotton say it makes their hands hurt.
Sisu Wool and Sisu Fantasy look nice, but again I haven't used these yarns. As always, I'm particularly interested in the self-patterning stuff. :)
Sock It To Me, which comes in more colourways and flavours than this (Harlequin), is available at elann.com. Here's Colori, cotton Esprit and Esprit Print, and Puzzle-- there might even be more! (Thanks totigrrgrr from sock_knitters for this tip!)
Strapaz, from Steinbach Wolle, seems nice, too.
I'm really loving the colours for Supersocke 100 Sierra.
Interlacements' Toasty Toes comes in this four-ounce skein and also in an eight-ounce size. The same colours are available in both sizes, I think. I haven't knitted with this yarn, but very nice colours. Their Eight-ply ray-flax looks interesting, too....
Tongue River Farm Sock Yarn --I haven't knitted with this, but it looks delightful. I also really liked looking at their Sock Collection book.
Trampoline, a stretchier sock wool. Again, never used it. I find plain old wool stretchy enough. ;)
Trekking Sock Yarn --I haven't used this, but I'm seriously eyeing that 'jungle fever' colorway....
Other stuff I found while researching this post
Carodan Farm is an American site that offers a really good variety of sock yarns in their online store, if you want to see several of these together. They're located in Virginia, and I've never ordered anything from them-- I'm just impressed with their catalog. They seem to offer a 'sock day camp' of sorts, called SoxPerience. Heh.
HJS Studio --Just in case you have a hankering to make your own, this site has some tips!
Want to make your own self-striping sock yarn? Here's the tool you need! :)
--and now, I have a long, long, long sock yarn wish list! ;-)
cflute sent me some links to some gorgeous sock yarns that I'd never heard of before, and it's taken a little while for me to get all the links together. This is mostly a list with links, although where I've used a particular yarn, I've tried to talk about it a little. Where possible, I've tried to link to the yarn company itself and not just an online store that sells the yarn, but that hasn't been possible in all cases.If you have other sock yarns to share, please give me links or suggestions in a comment to this post, and I'll add them to a revised version of the list. :)
Harper's Sock Yarn Roundup! Yee-Haw!
These links were alphabetized as an afterthought.
Schaefer Yarns' "Anne" sock yarn is a pricey wool/mohair/nylon sock yarn. The company actually started as a dyeing company, and this yarn is offered in "one-of-a-kind colours."
Blauband, self-striping sock wool from Germany. I haven't used this, but it has nice, wide stripes.
Blue Moon Fiber Arts, the link that started this idea, sells absolutely gorgeous sock yarn colourways. The sock yarn is called Socks That Rock. :-)
Brown Sheep's Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn --I have several skeins of this, and it is a good quality basic sock yarn that comes in a variety of colours practial and vibrant. Early incarnations of Wildfoote had some splitting problems, but in the last two or three years, they've really improved the spin. Everything I've knitted with Wildfoote has ended up looking great.
Cherry Tree Hill, based in Vermont, makes a yarn called Supersock that looks great.
Marks & Kattens has a self-patterning sock yarn called Clown, which has quite a lot of cotton in.
Cascade's Fixation is a very popular sock wool; this suggestion came from
sarakate, in the sock_knitters community. Fortissima Socka, from Schoeller+Stahl, comes in a dizzying array of colours and styles. They make my favourite self-patterning sock yarn ever. Unfortunately, they're hard to find in the UK. More US folks may know about them, because they are distributed by Skacel.
Happy Trails sock Yarn is 100% wool, and the "blueberries" colour shown here is really nice.
Hello Yarn's Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn I haven't used this, so I can't comment on the quality, but the colours look good.
Hot Socks, another sock wool I have not used, is on sale at Herrschners. :-)
Idena Crazy Sock Yarn seems to be a self-patterning DK, not unlike Schoeller+Stahl's Big Mexico.
Knitpicks has quite an array of sock yarns, including options from yarn you can dye yourself up to hand-dyed merino, all at pretty good prices. (Thanks to
xantha from sock_knitters for this tip!) (further note: alas, Knitpicks will not ship outside the US or Canada, so those of us who live elsewhere are up the proverbial creek.)Koigu Painter's Palette Premium is a fingering weight woold that seems to be all the rage among American sock knitters.
Kroy sock yarn is another basic sock wool that, you guessed it, I haven't tried yet.
Lane Cervinia, from Italy looks really good. I swear we got some of this in at Nease's once, but the label was really confusing and it got stuck in with a bunch of acrylic, never sold, and put into a bargain bin. Doesn't that pattern look great in the ripple sock? And that Black Forest colour is gorgeous.
Lang Jawoll and Jawoll Colour I haven't used this one either, but Lang is a good old name in European yarns.
Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn comes in lots of colours and is available through several UK retailers. I have a couple of skeins of this back at home, but I haven't made anything with it yet: it all had to be rewound when it was accosted by a mad kitty, so I haven't been looking forward to knitting with the smaller pieces. Other folks rave about it, though.
Meilenweit sock yarn, from Lana Grossa. I haven't used this one either, but they have some great colours.
Mountain Colors Bearfoot -- this is a pricey sock yarn, 100% wool, and I love it. I have made one pair of socks on 3.25mm needles from it, and I'm looking forward to making another pair on much smaller needles, to see if I like the firmer weave. Again, this one is hard to find anywhere but the US-- Mountain Colors isn't a big company. One skein is more than enough for a pair of ankle socks, even for me. Lots of folks seem to like using their part-mohair Mountain Goat for socks as well, but I have never seen it. If it's anywhere near as nice as Bearfoot, bring it on!
Opal Sock Yarn --This is another one of my favourite self-patterning sock yarns; again, the sheer diversity of pattern and colour means I've never been bored knitting this stuff. One ball of Opal makes a pair of ankle socks, even for my big feet.
Patons Patonyle -- I have a couple of skeins of this, but haven't knitted it yet. It was on sale at Spotlight, so Diane and I got four skeins. She started knitting hers before she left, and it looked like it was going to stripe. :) We had colour 4305, which is a colour not appearing on the link, so maybe it had been discontinued, but it was all nice and purpley-pastel.
Regia Sock Yarn -- I love Regia because of the many variations of colour you can get with the self-patterning yarn. I've made socks for both my stepdaughters out of this yarn, and it is a lot of fun to knit with because of the sheer variety of pattern you can get from the yarn. It is a very hard-wearing yarn; for me it works best knit with a very small 2-2.75mm needle. I have used 3.25mm needles with it, though, depending on the kind of sock I want to make.
Silja. This is a Norwegian yarn that I first came across while working at Nease's in Atlanta. It remains one of my favourite sock yarns, though it's a DK weight. Comes in many vibrant colours.
Plymouth's Sockotta sock yarn is a tightly spun sock yarn that has a lot of cotton in it. I have enjoyed knitting with Sockotta, but lots of people who aren't used to knitting with cotton say it makes their hands hurt.
Sisu Wool and Sisu Fantasy look nice, but again I haven't used these yarns. As always, I'm particularly interested in the self-patterning stuff. :)
Sock It To Me, which comes in more colourways and flavours than this (Harlequin), is available at elann.com. Here's Colori, cotton Esprit and Esprit Print, and Puzzle-- there might even be more! (Thanks to
tigrrgrr from sock_knitters for this tip!)Strapaz, from Steinbach Wolle, seems nice, too.
I'm really loving the colours for Supersocke 100 Sierra.
Interlacements' Toasty Toes comes in this four-ounce skein and also in an eight-ounce size. The same colours are available in both sizes, I think. I haven't knitted with this yarn, but very nice colours. Their Eight-ply ray-flax looks interesting, too....
Tongue River Farm Sock Yarn --I haven't knitted with this, but it looks delightful. I also really liked looking at their Sock Collection book.
Trampoline, a stretchier sock wool. Again, never used it. I find plain old wool stretchy enough. ;)
Trekking Sock Yarn --I haven't used this, but I'm seriously eyeing that 'jungle fever' colorway....
Other stuff I found while researching this post
Carodan Farm is an American site that offers a really good variety of sock yarns in their online store, if you want to see several of these together. They're located in Virginia, and I've never ordered anything from them-- I'm just impressed with their catalog. They seem to offer a 'sock day camp' of sorts, called SoxPerience. Heh.
HJS Studio --Just in case you have a hankering to make your own, this site has some tips!
Want to make your own self-striping sock yarn? Here's the tool you need! :)
--and now, I have a long, long, long sock yarn wish list! ;-)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
I'm a baaaad person...
Date: 2005-05-05 07:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-05 02:16 pm (UTC)Off to work on my socknitting class!
no subject
Date: 2005-05-05 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-05 06:04 pm (UTC)Thanks for making me aware of that-- I spent most of yesterday going through link after link and getting rid of duplicates just like that one-- let's hope it was the only one left!
-h
no subject
Date: 2005-05-05 08:10 pm (UTC)I have a pair of socks knitted for me from the Trekking XXL yarn. They fit pretty well but it's not a very soft yarn. Washed okay though.
I've used both the Koigu and the Shepherd Sock as a second strand in various scarf projects; both work excellently well for that. Not sure which would knit up better as socks, but they're both fine for adding a bit of warmth and bulk to a novelty-yarn scarf (such as those made with my all-time favorite novelty yarn, Linie 43 Punta from On-Line yarns).
I haven't tried Mountain Goat, but I have gotten both the Weaver's Wool and the Mountain Mohair from Mountain Colors and like both very much. One of my favorite online yarn sources carries the entire Mountain Colors line, and I can tell you that the folks at Fuzzy Mabel seem to have some of the fastest order fulfillment of *anybody* I've ordered from!
Thanks for the links. This will make a great "reference" post!
no subject
Date: 2005-05-05 11:08 pm (UTC)I've seen varying reports on the Trekking. Did it get softer after washing?
Shepherd Sock looks great, and lots of people I know swear by it, so I'm looking forward to knitting mine when I get back to the UK.
Mountain Mohair is beautiful, isn't it? We used to carry it at Nease's.
I'm glad you like the post. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-05-07 02:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-18 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-18 05:32 pm (UTC)cheap way to tell my husband and everyone else who loves me what to get me for presents for the rest of my life!I mean, selfless labour of love! ;-)