Online Supersocke 100 sock yarn

As I embark on this mission to knit 12 pairs of socks in 12 months, it occurs to me that it might be useful to review the yarns as I go. There, now it seems a more productive and less frivolous use of my time, although is a handknit pair of socks considered a frivolity or more a lovely way of life!



I asked my nine year-old, who's modeling the February socks, if handknit socks are better or is it just that he loves them because I made them for him. He replied, "well, yes, there's that, but it's just no ordinary sock."

I think I'll ponder that awhile. In the meantime, here's the review...

Online Supersocke 100 Highland Color
100gr/420m
75% superwash wool, 25% polyamid
made in Italy

One skein knit up a pair of child's (shoe size 2) socks with plenty of yarn to spare. You can easily knit a pair of women's or men's regular socks out of just one skein.

I used a set of US 1 1/2 (2.5mm) double points. However I am a very loose knitter and I would imagine most people would use a US 2.

The yarn is smooth and even in its thickness. It doesn't have much of a twist, and is rather loosely plied, although I didn't have any problem with the yarn splitting. There is a certain scratchiness to the material which made it less of a pleasure to work with than Cherry Tree Hill or Lorna's Lace. My son, who always watches my progress eagerly and wass quick to pull them on the minute they were finished, found them cozy but way too itchy to wear until they were washed. I ran them through a warm water machine cycle then let them air dry and they softened up enough for him to wear them to school with no problems at all. They blocked well and seem to be holding their shape nicely. I'm seeing very little pilling.

Supersocke 100 comes in a variety of colorways and I absolutely love the striping pattern. There is a definite repeat to the stripe, so that it's easy to make a matching pair. I have to tell you however, that mid-way down the cuff of the second sock, there was a break in the yarn which had been tied to a different section of the pattern. While the two pieces were close in color, they were different enough to cause the pair to be slightly mismatched. Despite this, I will happily use this yarn again.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

The Gossamer Beauty of Blocked Zephyr

Here's that sample bit of the Triangular Lace Shawl. It's hard to get a sense from this photo of the wonderfully whispery, ethereal quality of the fabric. It has the most amazing drape and feels beautiful against my skin.

Shirani will be ordering this soon, so stop by the shop and check out the beautiful range of colors that are available!

Yours in yarn,
Claire

Cherry Tree Hill

I am knitting a sock out of some gorgeous new yarn Shirani just got in:

Cherry Tree Hill's 100% superwash merino fingering weight sock yarn, lovingly and beautifully hand dyed in Barton VT - a quintessentially New England village tucked waaaaayyyyyyyy up in the Northeast Kingdom.

There are lots and lots of amazing colorways in every shade you can imagine and then some. But really the most charming skeins are the one-of-a-kinds called "Pot Luck" which you can request in a color family: Earth, Blues/Greens, Brights, Water, Blues/Purples, and Jewels. Beyond selecting the tone, the exact blend of colors will be a surprise! One skein of perfectly soft, perfectly plied, perfectly luscious merino begging to be knit up into a unique, not to be duplicated, made from the heart, pair of warm, (lightly) woolly socks!

I have to admit though, when I first looked at this lovely skein, I was surprised that Cherry Hill had labeled this particular pot-luck as a member of the Water group. Being that it was pretty much green...


However, once I'd worked an inch or two of ribbing, it suddenly dawned on me how beautifully the fabric evoked the idea of early blooms and freshly budding trees reflected in a mirror-like still pond on a warm, sunny, spring day. Taking a closer look at the gentle greens, soft pinks, lavenders, and buttercup yellows, with just the merest hint of robin's egg blue, I was reminded that water really is not blue at all, but colorless until it finds something colorful to reflect.

The hues of this skein don't shout out with vibrancy, but are much more subtle. Gradually emerging as the fabric unfolds from the needles, becoming something lovely: ethereal and impressionistic. Almost too nice for the pedestrian task of warming my hard working feet! Really more deserving of becoming an elegant sweater, but just the thought of all those stitches on 0's or 1's is replacing the calm of a soft, breezy, spring day with a terrible anxiety.....so I'm not going to go there.

I'll leave you instead with some lines from one of my favorite poets; Elizabeth Bishop, whose brilliant use of color and water imagery evokes the same feeling of peace and calm as I'm getting from this yarn! Bishop's poems are full of color, making them beautifully visual as well as lyric and lovely to listen to. Her gun metal blues and white-gold skies, like this beautiful wool, are rich with

"...melody, deep, clear, and liquid slow,
A song to fall like water on my head,
And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!

There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep."

Yours in yarn,
Claire

Check out what's new at the Cultured Purl!!!!!!

It's Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn and Wow is it GORGEOUS!!!! Rich, vibrant colorways, beautifully soft merino wool with an interesting little twist that I think is going to knit up to one very pretty sock. It arrived at Cultured Purl 2 days ago and before it had even been tagged, 10 skeins had been sold!! So hurry on in and take a look.

And for all the lace knitters out there...check out the beautiful Addi Turbo Lace circular needles...

It's pretty common knowledge that I am a DIEHARD wooden needle lover...but I am working on a design for a new triangular lace shawl and decided to give these a try. Skacel has come up with a needle that is geared toward the needs of lace knitters: very sharp tips for getting into tricky stitches on fine yarns; soft, dark toned cord that makes tiny stitches really visible; hollow, coated brass tips which let the stitches fly along at a quick pace without being too slippery to control; and finally, and BEST OF ALL, the
smoothest, tapered join that you could ever hope to find which really cuts down on the drag and snag that so often happens when working lace on hundreds of stitches... Can you tell I love them??? So...I wouldn't say I'm a convert, because wood will always be my first love, but for lace knitting, ADDI LACE TURBOs ARE THE WAY TO GO.

And finally, Sue just got a delivery of Blocking Wires: sets of very thin, long, flexible, metal wires that are designed to make blocking lace, among other things, simpler. You slide the wires through the edge stitches and then pin the wires down with a couple of T-pins. For example, they would have come in REALLY HANDY when I was blocking my Lace Sampler Shawl with 102 T-Pins...Definitely worth a serious look.

Well I am heading back to the lace design board...hope to see you soon at the Cultured Purl.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Lorna Has Landed

That's the call I got from Sue today: Lorna's Lace sock yarn HAS ARRIVED at Cultured Purl. And because I already have enough sock yarn stashed to keep my family in knitted socks for the next decade, I naturally did the sensible thing and RAN RIGHT OVER AND BOUGHT A BUNCH OF THE STUFF!!!!

And there was a line ahead of me.

It is a beautiful, buttery, lusciously soft yarn, done in some of the loveliest colorways I've seen. 3 skeins should get you 2 pair of socks.

Hurry on over and take a look!!

Yours in knitting,

Claire