The other night I finished a pair of plain old stockinette socks. I knit socks for myself on 64 sts, using either 2.25mm or 2.5mm needles depending on the yarn. A bit of k2, p2 ribbing, a no fuss heel and toe, easy-peasy, super comfortable, practical socks.
This pair was knit using this yarn. I was reminded that I had it in my stash after completing this pair of handspun socks. The multiple coloured ply's in this yarn remind me of handspun, however the splitty, sort of crunchy texture of this commercial yarn is far from the lovely, soft, bouncy feel of handspun, which is actually very comforting. I'm glad that commercial yarns can't compare to handspun, if they did, then I wouldn't have a reason to spin. Though I do think that these socks are pretty, they're just not the same.
I think that they turned out very nicely. They were just what I needed to relax when I was tired of reading lace charts. I find the colour shifts interesting. They don't seem to follow an obvious pattern. The sock on the left starts green, yellow, purple, red... the sock on the right goes green purple, red, yellow. Its a bit of an illusion, at spots they look the same, but upon closer inspection they aren't. I think its neat.
As soon as I cast off those socks I started another pair of plain vanilla socks, this time using zitron trekking xxl in colour 108.
Clearly, I'm in a place with my knitting where I don't feel like having to think about what I'm doing. I also don't feel like having to get up and wind a skein into a cake to knit from, so I'm just pulling old balls of commercial yarn out of my stash. I can't remember exactly when I bought this yarn, but it was at least 3 1/2 years ago. Its about time I use it up!
The irony is, since I knit a lot of socks, both plain and fancy, and I have a handful of friends and family members who all wear the same size socks as me, I have a gift drawer. I knit way more socks than I personally need, so when I finish a pair of socks, I usually end up putting them in the drawer and saving them for gift giving, unless I'm knitting a pair that I totally love and greedily keep for myself! However, I've learnt that my friends and family, though appreciative of any gift, prefer wearing socks that I've knit out of my own yarn. It makes sense, they want to be able to wear them and tell all their friends that I knit them and that I even dyed the yarn, its a matter of pride, and I love that they are all so proud of me! Its also been noted that my yarn washes and wears better then some of the other sock yarns I've knit with. Which just thrills me! My mom has more than once pulled out a pair of my dads socks from the laundry to show me the difference between the TFA wear and the commercial wear, particularly on the heels that tend to pill and kind of matt up or melt together like there is some sort of plasticky material in the fiber.
At any rate, what I'm trying to say is that this leaves me with a drawer full of plain, flat, commercially dyed socks. Don't get me wrong, I obviously saw something that I liked in the yarn when I bought it, and I do love watching the colours shift in those funky skeins, but it just doesn't seem right that my friends and family all prance around in hand dyed, hand knit socks and I'm left sitting here in commercially dyed socks! Oh well, I have no one to blame but myself. Its actually kind of funny, since people know that I dye yarn for a living, when I'm at a friends house and they see my knit socks they immediately comment on them and ask if they were knit with my yarn, when I answer "no" they look at me so puzzled.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. Do you ever give away all your good knits only to be left wearing socks with holes in them!?
Next, I'm going to knit a pair of socks with my new cashmere blend sock yarn, and I'm going to keep them for myself!!! That will make everything all right.
