Knitting – Page 28 – New England's Narrow Road

Some of My Favorite Sock-knitting Fingering Weight Yarn

When I first began knitting again last year I was getting serious about using fingering weight yarn, sometimes also called “sock yarn”. I really didn’t know why some fingering weight yarn got that label.

Here’s the difference: Yarn labeled “sock” can also be used to knit other items, but to knit socks you want tougher yarn, usually with a small amount of nylon (or other durable material), so they won’t wear out as quickly. You may also want washable wool (often labeled “superwash”) so the socks can be thrown into the washing machine.

To knit shawls and / or socks you will need to use around 400 yards of yarn, on average.

To be honest with the reader, I am very new to knitting socks. I have not tried any of this yarn mentioned to knit a pair. After searching online, and making notes for this page, I do have some favorite brands to try soon! My favorite places to buy yarn online are Simply Socks, Wool and Company, Miss Babs, WEBS and Jimmy Beans Wool. Some links on this page take you to these stores. Some of these shops have yarn from England, Ireland, Scotland and other places. It’s exciting to knit with fibers grown on animals living across the ocean!

Finding Beautiful Sock Yarn That Will Hold Up to Wear

Train Case by Mrs. Crosby

Mrs. Crosby Loves to Play, “Train Case” fingering yarn for socks is made of superwash merino wool, Outlast viscose and nylon. The description at Wool & Co. says this, “Outlast viscose, a fiber created by NASA to absorb, store and release heat for optimal comfort.”

In general socks will use 300-400 yards of yarn. It depends on the yarn weight, needle size, and sock length and pattern. Check the yarn calculator at Jimmy Bean’s Wool for a better estimate. I mention this because in some cases you will need more than one skein of the yarns mentioned below.

Madeline Tosh (approx. $26.50 / 420 yds)

Madeline Tosh has “Sock” yarn and Tosh Twist Light. The latter is made up of 75% wool and 25% nylon and has more yardage at 420 compared to Tosh Sock which has 395 yards. The Mad Tosh Sock has no nylon, just 100% Superwash merino wool. I’m thinking I would go with the Tosh Twist Light for a pair of socks. Prices seem to be about the same for both.

Malabrigo Yarn (approx. $20.00 / 420-440 yds)

Some of the first fingering yarn I bought was Malabrigo, but as I look around to write this article, I only see their “sock” yarn as being made up of 100% Superwash Merino. Without any nylon added, I wonder how long it would last. I’m picturing holes in the heels here.

And don’t be confused by the word “superwash”. It means the wool is washable – even in the washing machine – but it may need a gentle cycle, and will probably still need to lay flat to dry. Hand washing is always best to keep garments looking good.

Manos del Uruguay (approx. $25.50 / 445 yds)

Manos del Uruguay has beautiful yarn and they do have one for socks called Manos Alegria. It contains 75% superwash merino wool and 25% nylon. This yarn is so pretty and it comes in semi-solids, which have slight variations in color, or blocks of color which will create stripes when knitting socks.

Hedgehog Fibres (approx. $28.00 – $30.00 / 437 yds.)

I never knew much about Hedgehog Fibres (located in Ireland) and I have never purchased their yarn. But I want to very soon! The online stores mentioned below carry this yarn. I’m sure there are others as well. HHF sock yarn is 90% superwash merino wool, and 10% nylon.

Simply Socks is an awesome yarn website and they do sell Hedgehog Fibres sock yarn in loads of colors, including whites / off-whites that have just a touch of color. Those are hard to find.

Wool and Company also sells Hedgehog Fibres Sock, and for a bit less, and they ship in the US for free, no matter the size of the order. AND they will wind skeins for free! I love this place. The Malabrigo Rios yarn for my Umpqua Sweater came from Wool and Company. In fact I just purchased some new yarn for sock knitting. How could I resist? I will still have to get my “white speckled” from Simply Socks.

HF Skinny Singles (fingering in Merino wool- no nylon in this) at Jimmy Beans Wool are loaded with awesome colors. (400 yards each) These colors would be great for shawls.

Self-striping and Fair Isle Yarn to Try

I have not tried any of this self-striping yarn, but the idea of knitting along and seeing stripes emerge sounds interesting. There are lots more than this, but I thought I’d give you a place to begin. You can always use two (or more) skeins of different colors and make your own stripes! Some companies have dyed their yarn to resemble “fair isle” knitting without having to change yarn colors. This can look very pretty knit up as socks.

Lorna’s Laces – Shepherd Sock

Berroco Sox (find at Webs)

KnitPicks Felici Sock Yarn (cheap, self-striping)

Schachenmayr Regia Nautical Color 4-ply

Regia (Fair Isle stripes) Machine wash and dry!

Black and red striped socks (photo credit: Pixabay)

Search Online Yarn Stores For Free Shipping and Discounts

It can pay to search for deals when ordering yarn online. I would love to drive to a local yarn shop and give them my business but I don’t have one nearby. On the other hand, I can spend hours browsing yarns on my computer. I can compare prices and even order colors that are out of stock everywhere else (Wool and Company does that by offering “custom orders”).

Some online stores offer free shipping (Wool and Company) and others want you to spend a certain amount to get the free shipping. Some places give discounts for ordering so many skeins (Webs). Some places will wind yarn orders for free (Wool and Company!) and some will do it for a small fee (Miss Babs – this place also gives out little gifts with orders, like stitch markers and small samples of yarn.) Who doesn’t like free stuff?

I’ve never been unhappy with any order placed online. Selling yarn is a competitive business, and it’s important to stand out in some way.

Miss Babs mini skeins of yarn — Hot Shot Toes Mini skeins from Miss Babs

Don’t Forget Etsy & Small Yarn Businesses (Local if you have them)

I’m all for helping out entrepreneurs and that includes small yarn shops. Many people like to try their hand at yarn spinning and dying or whatever. Some have farms where they raise their own sheep, alpacas, or whatever and then use their wool to sell. However they do it, I like to give them a try.

Recently I bought some of Emma’s Yarn from a Florida Yarn Shop called Four Purls. They have a yarn truck which they take to places that don’t have local yarn shops and it’s where I bought my yarn. The yarn is beautiful and silky. I am in the middle of making the Dewdrops Shawl with it.

I’ve purchased yarn from shops on Etsy as well and I have never been disappointed when buying from small shops. Now I just need to knit something using all that yarn!

yarn café creations skein of blue — Etsy store: Yarn Cafe Creations

Cheap Sock Yarn and Yarn Without Wool

Sock yarn can also be cheap, like Cascade Heritage Sock, or Borroco Comfort Sock (around $8.00 for 447 yards) and Self-Striping Sox. It is not hand-dyed and sometimes is part acrylic or other manmade fibers. These brands are made in China and Turkey.

People who are allergic to wool will appreciate hand-knit socks without any wool. Alternate choices would be cotton, linen, or man-made fibers. Many of the links to yarn sites I have provided on this page also offer some type of wool-free yarn. Just search the sites.

This type of yarn can probably be machine washed and maybe even thrown into the dryer. Read the labels, but it may work well for anyone who refuses to hand wash items. If your socks are a gift, be sure to add a tag, or tell the person to wash with care.

More Info About Buying Yarn and Suggested Projects

Check out the Love Knitting site page: “What are the Best Yarns for Knitting?” I learned some new things about ply and grams and that silk can replace nylon for strength when it comes to knitting socks!

All I Need Is A Good Sock Pattern!

Just the other day I cast on and began knitting a sock. I used a size 1 US needle – or should I say 4 double-pointed needles. What a pain in the neck! I was following a free pattern that quickly got confusing. Then I made a very big mistake that couldn’t be fixed and I ripped the whole thing out.

I found a pattern called Pedestrian by Veronica Parsons which seems easy enough to understand. Follow the link to Ravelry where you can download the pattern for free. I will try it next.

I followed the pattern for knitting Basic Socks in my Dummies book, and made a pair in worsted weight. I can’t wear them with shoes, so I want to knit socks in fingering. I’d love to be able to convert that pattern to a smaller yarn and needle size. OR, find a pattern like it that I can understand.

Photos of socks on this page came from the Pixabay free images site.

Washable Yarn For Knitting Baby Garments

Although I have four grown children, I have no grandchildren! In fact, at the moment, none of my grown kids are married. Now that I have begun knitting again, I love some of the baby and young child knitted projects I am seeing. (I will write a post listing some favorite designs soon.)

Moms have very little time to themselves and I don’t think they would like the idea of hand-washing garments for their kids. Lots of yarn requires hand-washing only, or machine washing on gentle and drying flat. I’m looking for yarn that can handle washing and even machine drying.

How to Find Natural Fiber Yarns That Go in the Washer

After knitting up a couple of pink baby hats as starter projects, I gave them as a gift to a friend. Unfortunately they were knit with merino yarn that had to be hand-washed. Now that I know better, gifting hats to new parents means knitting in yarns that wash well in the machine, and if possible, can go into the dryer.

Lots of cheaper yarns (usually made of acrylic) are easy to care for – I will list some acrylic yarns at the end of this post. But these yarns are not as soft and unique as natural fibers. Most really nice yarns must be hand washed, so I’m looking for the in-between choices.

Without buying every kind of yarn out there, how do I really know what yarns to choose? There is no easy answer except to search online (unless you have a local store). A good place to start is Ravelry, where knitters leave comments about specific types of yarn. Search for the type of yarn, then view the comments about it. Sometimes there are a lot of opinions, and sometimes not. I’ve spent a lot of time reading reviews to create this list!

All prices are estimates of what I saw at the time of writing this post.

Rowan Baby Cashsoft Merino

This is a yarn I have been considering for a while now. I wanted to knit a small baby blanket and began searching for yarn. Rowan’s Baby Cashsoft Merino can be machine washed, but lay flat to dry. It is made up of wool, acrylic, and cashmere. The nicest thing about this yarn is that it comes in lots of good baby colors. ($9.95 / $10.00 for 142 yards – that is not a lot of yardage)

Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino

You don’t have to knit for baby with yarn that has “baby” in the title, but it’s worth a look if the maker has tried to create a truly soft, wearable yarn. Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK doesn’t get the greatest reviews on Ravelry, but it comes in lots of pretty baby colors.

What reviewers at Ravelry say: Doesn’t wash well – shrinks and felts. Also knitters mentioned pilling. However, reviews at Jimmy Bean’s were all good!

Cost: $9.95 for 127 yards

HiKoo CoBaSi – No Wool!

Some people don’t want to take the chance that baby may be allergic to wool. Alternatives are usually cotton or bamboo which can be a bit stiff and unforgiving.

HiKoo CoBaSi yarn is something different and it gets great reviews from knitters! It is available at Jimmy Beans and is made of cotton, bamboo and silk. (Also see more colors at Dizzy Sheep – which offers free US shipping!) It is “soft and machine washable” and “perfect for baby garments”. Probably drying flat is best, but it can go in the dryer. Use to knit summer, or warm weather clothing. ($8.00 for 220 yards, so it’s cheap!)

Ravelry reviewers generally say good things about this yarn. It is long lasting for socks, good for people allergic to wool, great for warm weather wear. It stretches nicely and gives good stitch definition. Goes in washer and dryer! Really… I would like to try this yarn.

Babies born in summer can benefit from newborn items knit in this type of yarn. I am thinking it may be a good choice for those of us who live in warm climates year round.

As I searched for baby patterns made with CoBaSi, I found that many knitters used the yarn to make toys / stuffed animals. If you are into that, this yarn seems like the perfect choice.

Malabrigo

Malabrigo yarn is well known and loved by knitters. I’ve used their bulky Rasta yarn to knit a few hats, and Rios to knit a sweater. Malabrigo sock is 100% merino wool, and is machine washable, but needs to lay flat to dry. Skeins are 440 yards and cost a bit less than $20.

In fact most “sock” yarn will be washable. After all, who wants to hand-wash socks! But it may not be as soft as you’d like for a baby item. Sock yarn is usually fingering weight, so hold two strands together to make a thicker item.

I think I would prefer a blend, like the yarn listed below. Any superwash merino tends to stretch with washing – and I can attest to that when I knit the Polliwog Popover baby sweater in Lorna’s Laces yarn. I loved the yarn, but it did stretch like mad.

Cascade Cotton Yarn

I usually use all cotton yarn for dishcloths and dish towels, but lots of knitters use if for baby things.

Cascade Ultra Pima is a washable yarn which is all cotton. Directions say to wash in cool water and tumble dry on low setting. Cotton doesn’t have a lot of give, so this may be best for a baby blanket, bib, or something that doesn’t need to stretch. ($10.00 for 220 yards)

Mrs. Crosby’s “Hat Box”

I have a few skeins of Mrs. Crosby’s yarn and it is lovely. The “Hat Box” is made of wool, silk and cashmere and comes in a wide variety of colors including variegated colors and some pretty colors which would work for a baby. It is Sport weight, and costs around $29.00 for 317 yards.

Purl Soho’s “Posy”

Purl Soho has a washable merino, cashmere and nylon yarn called Posy. It a more expensive choice at $29.00 for 318 yards. They also sell smaller skeins of the same yarn called Pocket Posy – which could be purchased for colorwork projects. Posy has a pretty pale pink color and a few others that may be suitable for baby items.

Ravelry comments on Posy say it tends to pill, so not good for socks, or clothing maybe. Also that it seems thicker than a regular fingering weight yarn.

Just remember that it’s always a good idea to include directions for the person who will be responsible for washing the item. Most hand-knits do better if they lay flat to dry. If you are a grandma or grandpa who lives close by, maybe offer to hand wash items for the new mom and dad.

Acrylic Yarn For Baby

Although I do not knit with acrylic yarn, I understand the appeal of cheap and easy care knitwear. If you know the gift-ee will simply throw the item into the wash – hot water or cold – and let it got through the dryer for sure, then a pretty man made fiber may be the best choice. Here are a few that are meant for babies, and come in nice colors.

Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby DK – link is to Jimmy Bean’s, cost is $4.50 for 183 yards.
Plymouth Baby Beenz – link is to Dizzy Sheep and it’s sold out. Possibly this one is discontinued, but Dizzy Sheep has lots more Plymouth choices, like Encore Worsted, and they offer Free US shipping!
Cascade Cherub DK – link to Jimmy Bean’s – cost $3.00 for 180 yards
Sirdar Snuggly Baby Crofter – Jimmy Bean’s has a bunch of Sirdar yarn if you don’t like this one which is variegated.

I hope this gets you started in your search for a favorite baby yarn. I plan to try some of these myself. If you are already an experienced baby garment knitter, please share your expertise, experience and advice in the comment section.

Thanks to Pixabay for the images I used in this post.

Do I Dare to Knit a Sweater?

Since I began to knit again, only a few months ago, I’ve saved sweater patterns. They are saved to my “favorites” section at Ravelry, and pinned to my knitting board at Pinterest. I even bought a book of children’s sweaters called Baby Botanicals (image link below) mistakenly thinking that a small sweater might be easier. Ha! Guess I did not learn my lesson from trying to knit booties. Small knitting projects can be just as complicated, or worse, than big ones!!!

As I perused the loooong patterns within this baby sweater book, I gave up on the idea of sweater knitting. Or at least, I had to find something super simple to begin with. Were any types of sweaters simple to knit?

I can’t answer this question yet, but I have decided on one to try. If I don’t jump in and give it a go, I will never know if I have what it takes to create a wearable item of clothing. After much searching, I chose the Umpqua Sweater by Caitlin Hunter. I’ve looked at a lot of sweater patterns and this one tugged at me right away. The sample is knit in a tweed yarn and has a wide yoke with an arrow-like design. Of course you can choose your own favorite yarn to use, which I did. Here’s how that happened.

Finding the Right Sweater Yarn

This is what has held me back from beginning a sweater:

Besides finding a pattern I could follow easily, sweater-knitting requires lots of yarn. Sweater knitting requires many needle sizes as well because the sleeves require DPN’s and sometimes other areas need smaller or larger needles. This all mean expenses beyond what is required to knit a hat or scarf. It costs (lots of) money to buy all the required notions.

Sweaters can be knit top-down or bottom-up and I had no idea which would be easier, or if there was a difference. Pullover or cardigan? Interesting cables and colors or plain and simple? After I began my sweater I found this Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Sweater Construction article which has good points to consider.

Also, I live in Florida. I am never going to wear a sweater – well, rarely. I don’t have that to look forward to. But I do travel to New Hampshire occasionally, where I would be able to show off my knitwear. The fact that I can’t enjoy wearing my finished sweater is a bummer.

The Umpqua Sweater is My Number One!

The Umpqua pattern is knit in worsted weight yarn, and I liked that. The Brooklyn Tweed “Shelter” yarn, used by the designer, was a bit pricey and was hand-wash only, so I looked around for something else. There are a lot of pretty worsted weight yarns to choose from. I needed something soft, warm and easy to care for.

It turned out that I got an e-mail the same day from a local yarn shop advertising the re-stocking of Malabrigo Rios yarn, so I checked out the description and colors offered. I’ve never used ‘Rios’ yarn, but do love Malabrigo yarn in general. And the colors were very nicely variegated which I thought would work well for this sweater. Also it claims to be “soft, warm and washable”. Perfect! (So far I can vouch for the “soft” part of that statement).

Finding the Right Color Yarn For My Sweater

Once I decided to use Rios, I looked on the Malabrigo site. This Rios yarn page shows the beautiful colors and has little “closer look” and ” sweater” icons in the top corner of each color. The “sweater” link goes to Pinterest where you can see each particular yarn knit up into items. This is a wonderful thing!

Often it is difficult to imagine a skein of yarn turned into a project, but here you have links to some things already knit up. The Rios yarn page is where I found my perfect sweater colors.

I decided that I loved the “Whole Grain” color for the main sweater color (my gauge swatch is the image for this post). Then I chose two others for the yoke pattern. “Aguas” is beautiful, but my second choice, “English Rose” is debatable. It’s very pretty, but I may want something different to sit alongside the blue-green color once I get to the colorwork part of the sweater. IF I ever get that far!

L-R, English Rose, Aquas, and Whole Grain – Malabrigo “Rios” worsted yarn.

“Wool and Company” Had All My Color Choices

I really wanted to support my local yarn stores (they are not close, but I could order from them), but neither one had these colors in their shop. I think one of them had the English Rose, but most yarn stores offer “free shipping” over a certain amount. I didn’t want to split my order and have to pay shipping fees. (For the most part I refuse to pay for shipping.)

Somehow, I stumbled across “Wool and Company” and ta da… they had every color I was interested in! AND they offer Free US Shipping – no matter the size of the order! What? On top of all that, they will wind yarn for no extra charge! Double what..???? Yes, they offer complimentary ball winding. All I had to do was ask at checkout in the comments section (see my comment below). So I asked for the 6 balls of my Main Color to be wound. That is what you see in the photo above (3 of the 6 they wound for me, for free!). I don’t have a winder, so I have to create balls of yarn from skeins and wind them from draping the yarn over my knees. To have all those skeins ready to go was immensely helpful. Wool and Company is my new favorite place to shop for basic yarn online.

I do love Miss Babs, and other hand-spun / hand-dyed shops for their unique offerings, but Wool and Company had the name brand yarn I wanted when I could not find it elsewhere.

Wool and Company’s shipping was quite fast. They are in Illinois and I am in Florida. I got the yarn – 8 skeins, 6 wound by them – in 6 days. Not bad.

Now all I have to do is create a nice sweater from this lovely yarn. Fingers crossed… here I go. I’m currently figuring the guage.

See how the Umpqua Sweater knitting is coming along.

Casting On A New Shawl, Which One to Choose?

I have a pattern for a free shawl (Lionberry) which I have tried to knit twice now. I give up after spending another two days of my life getting it started. All my rows end up short, and even when I try to add stitches I get holes in the rows. Obviously, I still need practice.

Now I am searching through more favorite shawls I’ve saved on Ravelry to begin a new pattern.

Types of Shawls

The shawls in my quick drawing show the ones I have made, or will make (this gives away the one I eventually chose to knit!) I’ve decided that I prefer the triangular, half circle (crescent) and rectangle shapes best. I do have a hard time figuring out how to wear an irregular, long, triangle shape like the Scrappy Bias and Vine Pops.

Shawls I’ve Considered Knitting

Here is a list of my saved favorite shawls. I’ve discovered many pretty ones, but the question is, can I follow the pattern? I still need a fairly easy pattern, although I did manage to knit the Vine Pops triangular shawl by Kirsten Kapur in a Mystery Knit Along. I’m still amazed at that.

Danzig, by designer Justyna Lorkowska is a big triangle shape (arrow shape?) which she knitted in a light color (Malabrigo Mechita in “Pearl”) but added a bright variegated yarn (Malabrigo Mechita in “Diana”) which makes bright little dots and rows of color throughout by knitting short rows. I really love this one, but don’t have a lot of practice with short rows. The little ruffled scarf I am working on is the only place I have used them.

Note to self: After viewing the Danzig shawl colors chosen by other knitters, I would probably choose the colors the designer used, or something close.

And… by the same designer, a Free shawl pattern called “Eunni” which is available at Knitty.com, but this one looks involved. It’s free, so I may give it a try. It’s also very colorful, so not sure what I would do with that.

Her designs are quite lovely and I have also favorited Aisling, which is a crescent shaped shawl, and Penicuik. These links go to Ravelry where you can see photos and buy the patterns if you like. I think you will need to sign up, which is free and it’s a great place to find patterns, both free and to purchase.

The Slumber Shawl by Stephen West is so pretty with the wavy edge . I’m not crazy about the color yellow, but the yellow and gray gradient in this one looks awesome. Also, the yarn weight called for is worsted or Aran to make a more dense, warm neck wrap.

Making a Pattern Choice

Yesterday I went yarn shopping and bought a ton of new yarn from the visiting yarn truck so I am itching to use it! (More on that yarn truck on another post.) As I shopped around Ravelry (which can take hours out of my day) I found some nice discounts and deals.

skeins of Emma's Yarn — Emma’s Yarn new skeins purchased from Four Purls

Once I happened across some shawls by Janina Kallio of Woolenberry and saw that she was offering a winter discount, I jumped at the chance to have her patterns. It was buy two, get one free, so I ended up with three shawl patterns for the price of two. Great deal!

Choosing three was tough, with all the pretty shawls offered, but I wanted something other than a triangle shape, which narrowed it down. Also, since I tend to buy one skein of yarn in a color that grabs my attention (like in the photo above), I hoped to find shawls that would take one skein.

The first shawl I chose is “Railings” and is a half circle shape. One skein of fingering weight yarn is used, so that is perfect. The beautiful “Floral” shawl is in crescent shape and takes more than one skein but is so pretty! And my last choice is a unique shawl that is knit from the bottom up with a lacy border added afterward. It’s called “Dewdrops“. I am not sure which one I will try first, but I’m casting on tomorrow!