Spinning for Socks

When I started spinning in 2008, my goal was to someday spin and knit my own sock yarn. It’s taken me eight years to finally achieve that goal.

In June, I won a skein of merino/nylon sock blend in Elfenwolle’s Instagram raffle. When the braid arrived in the mail, I couldn’t help but laugh: it was exactly the same colors as the navajo-plied BFL/mohair mix I’d spun for socks earlier. Apparently, all my handspun sock are destined to be green/blue/brown in color.

This urged me to finally cast on a pair of socks with my handspun, partly to see what it would look like knitted up so I could do something completely different with the Elfenwolle braid.

• On Ravelry: Sand and Sea

• Pattern: Toe-up sock with 56 sts, 2x2 ribbing on instep and cuff

• Yarn: 355 m/388 yd of handspun BFL/mohair, fiber from Felt Studio UK

• Needles: 2.5 mm

Since the socks had color sections that were pretty long, I wanted the next pair to be more blended and chose to do a three-ply fractal. I split the braid into three lengths (for three plies/bobbins), then divided those vertically in 2, 4, and 8 strips, respectively.

• On Ravelry: Willow and Hazel

• Fiber: 67/33 Merino/Nylon Sock Blend from Elfenwolle, colorway Willow and Hazel

• Yardage: 402 m or 440 yd

• Skein weight: 103 g or 3.6 oz

• Grist: 391 m/100 g or 3910 m/kg or 1940 ypp

• Plies: 3

• Yarn weight: Fingering

Now I can’t wait to see what this skein looks like knitted up!

#knitting #spinning #socks #toeup #selfstriping #sockyarn #ribbed #Elfenwolle #BFL #mohair #navajoply #threeply #fingering