Yep, I finished the purply cotton shrug today, despite the nearly 2 hour bindoff from hell. I’m really not sure why it took so long- I just did your standard k2, slip both to left needle, k2togtbl. Maybe I kept stopping. I tend to do that when I’m doing something I’d rather not be doing. But, nevertheless, it is complete. Excuse blurry photos. We took tons; these, sadly, were the best. My husband… has a knack for blurry. I honestly don’t know how he does it. I thought it was the camera but I took some photos before and after he did and mine were not blurry.
Yarn: Misti Pima Cotton Silk, color 3814 (I call it plum), nearly 2 skeins. Pattern: One Skein Wonder by Stephanie Japel, sizes 8, 5, and 6 needles.
For those of you who only read my blog for the cat photos (I know you’re out there), here’s a bit of crouching tiger, hidden Simon (sorry, couldn’t help myself).
We went out to dinner with my Outlaw-Mother tonight, at Cory’s favorite place– Royal Orchid Best Thai Food. I gave her the socks I knitted for her Christmas present, these:
Yarn: Pagewood Farms Yukon, Bamboo/wool/nylon, color Forest Camo. Pattern: My standard sock recipe, size 2 needles.
She seemed to really like them. I really hope they fit her- I was unsure of anything but shoe size, so I made them 2×2 rib the whole way to ensure stretchiness.
I thought it might be fun (and add to my blog fodder) to do a bit of reviewing in each post. I’m going to start with sock yarns, just because I’ve tried a good variety of these and I feel like I can give some educated opinions.
Today’s review:
KnitPicks Essential, 75% superwash merino, 25% nylon. 231 yd per 50g ball. (Available at knitpicks.com)
Rating: ●●●●○
I’ve used this one several times, including the socks I finished on Dec 31 (here, if you’re too lazy to scroll down a bit or you don’t remember or something). It was actually the first sock yarn I ever used, to make the Buccaneer’s Booty Socks for a friend of mine. I’ve also made a pair of socks for my husband with it.
Pros:
- Machine washable. This is excellent for gifting and for people in your family that might be… less than careful about laundry.
- Inexpensive. Great for starting out, when $20 for socks feels ludicrous. (Don’t worry. That feeling will pass.)
- Fairly sturdy. My husband has worn his socks many times and they are still in great shape.
- Comes in quite a few nice solids, some multis, and a few twists. It’s difficult to find plain sock yarn sometimes, so this is great.
- Quite soft, so great for sensitive skin.
- Good yardage. 2 balls comes to 462 yards, plenty for even a large-footed sock wearer.
Cons:
- Thin, a bit stringy. I prefer a thicker, squishier, more tightly plied sock yarn. This is just personal preference.
- You can’t buy it in stores, so you can’t give it a feel or see the colors in person before buying it, unless you shell out for a color card. This puts a lot of people off.
- No heathereds or hand-dyed colorways. These, to me, are much more fun. (Knitpicks does carry a hand-dyed sock yarn line, now, though)
- Splitty. I’m very easily annoyed by splitty sock yarns, as I use very pointy needles.
Overall, I’d say this is a great yarn for a budget-minded or beginner sock knitter. It’s a good, solid yarn. There’s a lot of fancier, cooler stuff out there, but this is like Cascade 220- a workhorse of sock yarns.
