Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Socksposé! The hated.

I've been brewing this post in my head for a while... I wanted to write up a review of the sock yarns I've used and loved... and hated. I don't know if it'll do anyone any good, but you never know, right?

I've also spent a long time trying to figure out how to order them... chronologically? By love/hate ratio? So today I bring you the hated. Socks that have not held up under relatively normal sock conditions. Socks that felted or fallen apart. I'll do my best to give the details that explain why I think things went wrong and how you can avoid a similar sock fatality.

First up: the Lacey Rib Anklets:

lace ribbed anklet

Yarn: Knit Picks Memories (now discontinued)
What went wrong: Well, first of all, this was the first time I attempted socks aside from the ones I made in a class and I decided to make a pattern up myself. Which was fine, but I only had one ball of this yarn (which was 220yds/skein) and so I had to make them fairly short in order to make a pair. So as it stands they were barely anklets anyway. After a few washes (and yes, probably runs through the dryer) they started to felt. In the end I couldn't even keep them over my heels.
The outcome: Garbaged. Sad but true.

Next: Socks on Fire:

2firesocks

Yarn: Araucania Ranco Solid
What went wrong: FELTED. Within a couple of washes I could barely get these on my feet, let alone see the pattern.
Outcome: Garbaged. I really liked these socks too.

Rainbow socks:

rainbow socks!

Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Mini Mochi
What went wrong: I'll give you a guess. YUP, felted. I even had a feeling when working with the yarn that it had that potential... single ply, lots of halo. I still love this yarn though, I think it's gorgeous and want to use the worsted weight to make another noro-like scarf. Just DON'T put it in the washing machine.
Outcome: Guess again... thrown out. I kept these as long as possible but by the end they were maybe 1/2 the size they should be and there was no way they were stretching over my feet another time. Sigh.


That's it for the hated. Look for posts about the "livable" and the "loved" over the next few days.

1 comment:

Crystal Palace Yarns said...

Hi,

Susan from Crystal Palace here - could you tell me how you washed them? AND you did not put them in a dryer, did you?

We have had very few reports of felting problems with Mini Mochi (and the 2 bad ones turned out to have washed in hot water and put in a dryer).

Email: cpyinfo@straw.com
Let me know what happened!

Susan