silky merino sock yarn

The second in a series of posts about my lovely yarn bases!

This yarn base is quite possibly my best-selling yarn ever. It's definitely a customer favorite! I think people see "merino" and think "ooh!" and they see "silk" and think "OOH!" and it's a fingering weight yarn, which every sock knitter adores. (I know I do!) The yarn comes in 100g/3.5oz skeins that have a silky soft 440 yards of 3-ply fingering weight yarn. It is a blend of 70% merino wool and 30% silk, so it is soft, yet sturdy, and with a beautiful shimmer to it. That silk! I tell you... It just adds the perfect amount of shine. Knit on size 1-3 needles it gets 7-8 stitches per inch.

It makes lovely socks - though be aware that this yarn is not as friendly with the washer and dryer as the superwash merino sock yarn. For this one, I always recommend hand washing and hanging to dry. (Make sure any gift recipients are aware of this! We would hate for them to inadvertently ruin your hours of hard work.) I have knit several pairs of socks from this yarn as gifts and they are still going strong! It is also a popular choice for other small items - hats, mittens, etc. - and is fun for colorwork too.

This yarn dyes up completely differently than the superwash merino sock yarn - the colors are often more muted than the same dyebath on the merino. Not a bad thing! And there are certainly examples of very vibrant silky merino batches - like this one or this one - but frequently the colors blend more gradually into one another and don't come out quite as rich or dark. It's an excellent base for dyeing pastels and soft-looking shades to tickle your fancy.

I only have three colorways currently listed in the silky merino sock yarn: a lovely variegated violet, a similar but solid purple and a particular favorite of mine - a slightly variegated latte-hued color, pictured above. But...there will be more soon! There are a handful of colors just waiting to be photographed and listed in the very near future.

superwash sock yarn

I'm going to be doing a little post about each of my yarn bases over the next...bit of time. (Month? We'll see.) In my Etsy listings, you can always see each yarn's vital statistics - the yardage, the weight of the skein, the weight of the yarn (worsted, fingering, etc.), the "ingredients" as it were - silk, wool, etc. And there are photos, of course! I include the recommended needle size, a range of stitches per inch and care instructions. But sometimes you want to know a little more, y'know? How does it feel? Is it soft? Scratchy? Flimsy? Stiff? How does it drape? Many of these questions will of course depend on how you knit but some of them can be answered!

These photos show my superwash merino sock yarn. It's a really lovely two-ply fingering weight yarn made of super soft, springy merino wool. Superwash, even! I knit some socks with this several years ago and they have held up very well. (Better, even, than some socks I knit with yarn from some other well-known indie dyers, much to my surprise. And pleasure.) This yarn seems to be on the lighter side of fingering. It comes in 100g/3.5oz skeins that have about 430 yards of wonderful wool that has a fairly tight twist to it. It gets 6-8 stitches per inch when knit up on size 1-3 needles, depending on your gauge. When knit up on smaller needles, it makes a lovely sock. The fabric is tight and durable but still drapes nicely. When knit up on larger needles, say a size 4, for a shawlette or some such thing, it makes an almost silky looser fabric with a beautiful drape to it. (I knit a small shawl from that grey yarn up there - I will have to photograph it and share it here!) This yarn is washing machine friendly, in cold water, and I have successfully machine dried my socks, but I wouldn't recommend it as a matter of habit, just to be on the safe side.

This yarn takes dye extremely well, allowing for a wide range of colors. I can get beautiful pastels, if desired, as well as vibrant, bold shades, oftentimes in the same skein! I sincerely love the way this yarn dyes up. It is a great pleasure to work with and it seems to glow in the dyepot as it soaks up all the lovely tones. I'm always thrilled with how it comes out - it's almost as if it has an inner light to it. Which is impossible, I know. But it just shines! Really. It seems almost silkier to me than some of my other yarn bases that do contain silk! I could go on and on about this yarn base because I really think it is my favorite.

If you're interested in checking out what I have to offer in this yarn, head on over here. (I carry two types of sock yarn - this superwash that I've been raving about and a silky merino sock yarn, that I will be raving about in the near future.) The lovely yellow yarn is available but I'm sorry to say that the other two gorgeous colors illustrating this post are long gone. If you have any questions about this, or any other, yarn, please feel free to ask!

January donation

As you may know, I promised that a portion of the sales from the entire month of December would go to a local charity! I didn't name the charity because I wanted it to be a surprise for the recipient. And, yesterday, it was! The money went to Catherine's Cupboard, a food pantry in Standish that is run by a dear friend of mine. She is doing some really great work over there and I am proud to support it! Food issues, particularly local food, is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I hope you'll take a moment to be thankful for all that you have. Happy 2011 everyone!