I have so much left to learn. Reading through The Knitter’s Book of Socks by Clara Parkes (check out The Knitter’s Book of Yarn and The Knitter’s Book of Wool while you’re there), makes that all too clear to me. She’s given this way more thought that I could ever muster.
“A sock is a work of wonder. No other knitted garment has as many structural demands or endures as much wear and tear. The humble sock must defy gravity, suffer the confines of our shoes, and endure being trampled on all day long.” See what I mean?
This book takes us through the life of a sock from the fiber the yarn is spun to the sock the fiber becomes. We start with the basics of spinning sock yarn, starting with fiber, discussing different types of wool, cotton, nylon, tencel , (regenerated cellulose), and others. As most sock knitters know, finding a sock yarn with nylon helps to keep the sock together and gives the knitted stitches strength to withstand the punishment they deal with every day. I’ll be honest, Clara doesn’t seem like such a fan of superwash sock yarn, aka wool yarn that won’t felt in the wash, but I adore it. I’m way too hard on my feet to knit socks that I have to hand-wash each time, And quite lazy. I don’t sort my laundry as carefully as I should, which leads to a load for clothes, including hand-knit socks, and the separate load is towels (and/or dog blankets and afghans if they need it. If I were a better person, less true to my nature and less in love with superwash sock yarn, I’d wear my socks to the bath like the Yarn Harlot does (or did, I’ll admit it’s been a while since I properly read through her post archive so she might not still be doing that) . However, since I am a bit lazy and thoroughly myself, I’ll knit my socks out of superwash and toss them straight in the laundry. Draped to dry, no clothes driver in my house (too small), and they seem to do just fine. Of course, reading any Webs or Ravelry yarn review will tell you that even if a yarn says it’s superwash, it may still felt, which makes it a bit of gamble. Unless you’re looking to make a pair of Kitten Mittens, no judgment here). If you are ordering sight-unseen or haven’t used that yarn brand before and come to find that when you hang up your socks to dry and the fibers in the yarn have meshed together and shrunk considerably due to the minuscule scales in the yarn that have joined together. Or so in love with a colorway that you hardly checked the label on the wrapper. I’m only human!
Non-superwash has a certain charm , though. I particularly enjoy a sock yarn when it’s tightly plied and bouncy with a bold dye. I just won’t use it for socks. I think people have a tendency to stick to what they know, and struggle to think outside the boss with yarn, which leads to many an adult-intended sock to become fit only for a child. My favorite sock yarn is Regia from Schachemayr for the inventive colorways and bullet-proof nature of the yarn.
The Knitter’s Book of Socks then goes into astonishingly detain on the process of spinning sock yarn itself, then the specific knitting techniques used to knit on as tight a gauge to prevent the stitches from sliding against one another and wearing out quicker (especially in the hard-working heel and toe). Next up comes the patterns, carefully curated from expert knitters like Cat Bordhi and Nancy Bush. I’m going to have to knit Nancy’s socks. You know how I feel about her.