September Sock Yarn Review

No photos today - we've had horrible weather on those days when I've had time to take photographs and with the days getting shorter and shorter, no time in the morning before I head off to work. Now, I could leave work before eight, but I don't think it would get the work done.

This months yarn was Dashing Dach's Dachs Socks, knit on size 2.25 mm needles on my standard Toffee Sock Pattern. Although the gauge was the same as last month's yarn, the sock doesn't feel as firm. I think I would go down to 2.00 the next time I used this yarn. My fingers also tell me this is a fine yarn, which made sense to me when I looked at the length of 4 oz of yarn - 560 yards.

The variegated yarn has short repeats, so the stripes are narrow - never more than two rows deep at any point in the sock, including over the gusset. Over the gusset, the yarn pools, which is not unexpected.

Yarn content: 100% superwash merino
Skein: 100 g, 560 yards
Needle size: 2.25 mm (US size 1)
Gauge: 8.5 sts per inch

There were no knots. Would I use this one again? I would.

September Socks Finished

The September Socks are finished. I really enjoyed this knit. The yarn is smooth and there were no knots at all. The dye is even and produces a narrow stripe pattern, except over the gusset where there was pooling. Since I like pooling, this is never an issue, but I know for some, the objective is to keep the look of the sock consistent throughout. If that is your objective, you will need to use a different heel, since a gusset heel always produces a distortion of the yarn pattern due to the increase in stitches.

Stats coming soon - before the end of the month.

Would I use this yarn again? Yes. The next time I would use smaller needless to make it firmer, as on my 2.25's it may be a little less dense than I would like. For me that's not particularly an issue, since I wear my socks mostly with Birks and there isn't a lot of hard wear on them. If you wear them in shoes you might want a denser gauge.

Here's another photo of the gusset, showing the pooling. One side of the sock was quite blue/green/navy - the other side, much whiter. Worked for me.

Dashing Dachs - Over the Gusset

The heel is turned and the gusset shaping has begun - well, to be honest, it's almost finished. I like the way the colours pool in the gusset. I'm such a person of small pleasures: I know that a striping yarn will change when the number of stitches increases, and I'm always eager to see it happen. (I do believe I said "small pleasures" - at least I'm honest.) I should have turned the sock over, because on the other side is a more white patch, corresponding with the blue pool on the front.

So far so good. This yarn would certainly get a second look from me.

Dashing Dachs - Up the Leg

The leg is finished. The yarn has continued to stripe as I expected from doing the cuff. If I was going to use this yarn again, I might move down to 2.0 needles. I tend to be a loose knitter, as many Continental knitters are, so I use smaller needles than many - for instance, if a pattern calls for 2.5 mm needles, I use 2.25 without thinking about it - and my goal in this series was to use the same needle so I could compare the firmness of the sock.

This yarn has a very soft hand and good lustre and I am tempted to use another skein of it for a scarf.

More knitting tomorrow. For today it's off to work.

This is an interesting yarn

this is an interesting yarn. The colour changes are short, so the stripes, (such as they are) are usually only one round, or even less. There are a couple of places where a colour repeats itself from round to round, but not because the repeat is long enough to come around on itself, but because they're so short.

This is not complaining - this is really an observation about how a yarn behaves. However, it is a little difficult to predict what the sock will look like, so that will have to wait.

I don't think I would like this yarn with this colourway for a heavily patterned sock - the quick repeats would hide any kind of delicate (or even not-so-delicate) lace or cables.

And we're off!!

We're off!! I've cast on 68 stitches for my standard Toffee Sock and have completed the purl ridge and five or six rounds.

When I unlooped the skein (is "unlooped" a word?) I could see that this yarn in the skein did not have solid areas of colour, but instead, the changes went all through the skein. So far, none of the colours has repeated on top of itself, so I am expecting that the colour changes will be very short.

The yarn is soft and does not seem to be splitty. (Another technical term.) As much as I can I will use the same needles for each sock so whatever differences there are will not be because the needles are different. The odd colour needle is what keeps my count straight - and also because I have only four Pony Pearl 2.25's now, and since I knit with five, I need something straight and pointy on both ends.

September is always a hard month to start, since Labour Day comes right at the beginning and then somehow we're into fall and and real world and regardless of what the weather is like, summer is over.

September Sock Yarn Review - Dashing Dachs

September's yarn is Dashing Dachs' Dach Sox - (whoa, that was a mouthful) in the Futbol colourway. It's described as Fingering Superwash Merino, with no nylon. I haven't wound it yet, but can report that it feels good in the skein.

Now - off to the needles, using the same pattern as I did for the August yarn - my Toffee Sock.