Monday, February 06, 2006

First Sockapaloooza update

I couldn't sleep last night for worrying about my socks! :) I have so many ideas running through my head of what I want to do for my sock pal. My "backup" idea is to do some basic, ankle down socks with some beautiful Lana Grossa Meilenweit in colors that I found at my LYS, but can't find elsewhere... It's shades of orange, brown and purple! It's what I bought on January 31--the day my yarn club membership expired, but before I got my sock pal's preferences... Now that I got her preferences, I'm looking at a few other, more exciting things! I haven't hand-dyed for socks yet, but really like this pattern I found for pine tree patterned socks. I'm not sure if it would work, but I was thinking of dying some Fisherman's wool in natural colors and trying that pattern. Then when I was digging through my stash last night, I came across a bunch of Riviera St. Remy yarn (can't find that online, either) which is very thin, 75% acrylic, 20% mohair and 5% wool. Anyone know what kind of sock this would make? Would it wear well? I really want to try to knit 2 socks on 1 circular and might try that, too. Since it's plain, natural-colored yarn, I'd want to work some pattern into it...


I also have a free shipping code (no minimum purchase) at joann.com this week and if you buy 8 or more skeins of yarn, you save an extra 10%, so I thought of getting an assortment of Paton's Kroy or Lion Brand Magic Stripes. Or even just one or two skeins to try (with the free shipping). If anyone has input on any of this stuff, I welcome it! I've made four pairs of socks, but they've all been with Moda Dea Sassy Stripes with size 6 or 4 needles and, while fun, wasn't a very tight knit...

So those are the things I'm considering... And I'm hoping I can pull one of these off! :)

2 comments:

Ashley said...

Hmmm. I've never heard of Riviera St. Remy, but the acrylic content would make me wonder if it's the best yarn for socks, since acrylic doesn't wick sweat the way natural fibers do. Paton's Kroy has a good combo of mostly natural fiber, but with nylon added for strength. You might also want to look at the KnitPicks sock yarns.

In terms of needle, of course you should check your gauge and use what works for you, but I usually knit sock-weight yarn of 1s or 0s. I think I heard once that a good rule of thumb for socks is 6-8 stitches per inch.

Hope that helps!

Emily said...

I've used the Magic Stripes before I found it to be a little "rough" Not really scratchy or anything but not as soft of a sock as I would have liked.

I agree with Ashley. Acrylic socks tend to make for some sweaty feet (in my experience at least.)

I knit my socks on size 1's or 2's.

Good Luck!