Sunday, March 16, 2008

Sock Madness - now with Wollmeise! (and don't forget SP stuff!)

Yesterday while in the throes of Sock Madness the doorbell rang - this can only mean one thing: mail. So I went downstairs and the mailman handed me a box and asked if it was yarn. (Hee hee.) I was a little embarrassed by the fact that the mailman apparently knows me so well, but I was actually not at all sure what was in the box.

Turns out the mailman was right.

spfinal

It was the final package from my super SP - Aspiring Crazy Cat Lady. I got a neat mosaic sock pattern with two colors of blue Meilenweit. That definitely looks interesting and I think I'll use it as packaged, just as soon as I get through some of my more complicated socks. She also sent some hand dyed fiber that she "made" herself. Um, blended herself - that's the word I'm looking for. It looks gorgeous!

And last but certainly not least... I told her it was my dream to try some Flat Feet - and then when I saw it at SPA I had Cathy convince me not to buy any because I had faith in my SP to come through with the Flat Feet. And come through she did! I'm very excited to use it and it seems that a few knittyboard members are excited to hear about it so I'll be starting those socks really soon and documenting the process.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because I'm crazy... I decided to participate in Sock Madness again this year. The truth is that I don't really care about winning - as evidenced by the fact that on Friday night I decided to just go to bed instead of powering through my socks even though I didn't have to be up in the morning. (On Thursday I actually went to bed at a reasonable hour, but then I had work as an excuse!)

But I finished well before my division hit 40 so I'm into the next round.

zombieblock

Pattern: Zombie Socks from Sock Madness 2
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle in Mitternacht
Started: 3/13/08
Finished: 3/15/08

As for the Wollmeise...

Well first off I really really like it. I'm putting this up front because I'm going to be comparing it to other yarns since many people haven't had the chance to try - or even see and touch - it. But none of these comparisons are better/worse, they're all just *different*.

The yarn itself is much different than what I've come to expect from a handpainted yarn. It's not a 2 ply or even a 4 ply, it's an 8 ply. (I counted.) The multiple plies make it a little splitty, but a very little bit. It didn't really bother me at all after I got used to it while casting on.

It looks very thin and doesn't really feel soft in the skein. In fact it's 100% wool but I never would have guessed it, I could have sworn there was some nylon in it. Although it looks very thin it doesn't really compress at all - I used size 1 (2.25mm) needles and I think they were a good fit - the ballband recommends 2-2.5mm. The resulting fabric is nice and not at all holey*, flexible but I think it will be hard-wearing, and soft.

* All holes seen above are intentional. ;)

The yarn is very dense, but not sproingy at all. I realize that sproingyness is a made up quality - but not by me, no idea who first coined the term - but I suppose most of you know what it is. (For example, Socks That Rock is a pretty dense 2 ply, and it's very sproingy, Koigu is also a dense 2 ply but less sproingy.) Not exactly springy but more springy and dense combined?

In any case... back to Wollmeise. The properties of the yarn aside, the dyeing is wonderful. The color I used has a very true black, something that's hard to find in hand dyed yarn. The yarn was very evenly dyed and didn't have any splotchy spots, and despite the very blackness of the black, the blue and teal-ish bits were bright and true.

The skeins also come in 150g instead of 100g - and 574 yards. For me this is probably enough for 2 pairs of socks - I think I'll use the remaining yarn for a toe up pair and see how far it goes.

Listening to: Just ~ Radiohead, If You Could Only See ~ Tonic, Soft Rock Star ~ Metric

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5 Comments:

Blogger Ambermoggie, a fragrant soul said...

love the wollmeise socks, a fabulous colour:)

6:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Excellent description of Wollmeise. They wear really well and don't have a tendancy to streatch out like a lot of other socks that I have made. And, Claudia's dyeing is wonderful!

Your socks turned out great, BTW. I also did a regular sleep time on Thursday night, but pulled an all nighter on Friday. I needn't have bothered, but I wanted to see if I could still do it. We'll have to see what happens next round. Good luck!

11:01 AM  
Blogger ZantiMissKnit said...

I love the colors on that yarn! I hadn't seen that pattern before; I of course love the name!

5:50 AM  
Blogger chemgrrl said...

Woah, back up for a minute. Did I correctly read that you finished that pair of socks in two days? Holy crap, woman! And they're beautiful!

6:37 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yay! I'm glad it made it ok. I'll be interested to see how the FF knit up. I may have to buy one of the icky red ones and over dye it or something :)

And your mad sock knitting skillz are awe-inspiring :)

3:45 PM  

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Sock Yarn

    A quest to use sock yarns:

    Yarns I've had:
    * means I really liked it

    4-ply Soft
    A Piece of Vermont*
    Alpafina
    Artsygal*
    Artyarns Supermerino*
    Austermann Step
    BMFA Sock Candy*
    Black Bunny Fibers*
    Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport
    Chinese Mystery sock yarn
    Claudia's Handpaints
    Conjoined Creations Flat Feet
    Crystal Palace Maizy
    CTH Supersock
    Dicentra Designs
    Dorchester Farms
    Fabel
    Fearless Fibers
    Fixation*
    Gloss (KP)
    handspun
    Inspinknity*
    Interlacements Beibi Seda
    Interlacements Tiny Toes
    Interlacements Toasty Toes
    Jarbo Raggi
    JKnits*
    Jojoland Melody
    Koigu*
    Kona Superwash
    KP Essential
    KP Merino
    KP Palette
    Limbo
    Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock*
    Macek Designs
    Madelinetosh
    Magic Stripes
    Mega Boots Stretch
    Microspun
    Nature's Palette
    Noro Kureyon Sock
    Opal
    Panda Cotton
    Paton's Kroy*
    Peru DK
    Peruvian Quechua
    Regia Bamboo*
    Regia Cotton
    Regia Strato*
    Ruby Sapphire
    Sockotta
    Socks That Rock*
    Star (Classic Elite)
    Stitch Jones
    Sunshine Yarns*
    Three Fates Cauldron Sock*
    TOFUtsies
    Trekking*
    Wick
    Wildfoote*
    Wollmeise*
    Wool Ease
    Yarn Pirate*

    In Progress:

    Perchance to Knit
    Regia
    Vesper
    Yarns in the stash:

    All Things Heather
    Ancient Threads
    Apple Laine
    Araucania Ranco
    Artyarns Ultramerino
    Autumn House Farm
    Baby Ull
    Ball and Skein
    Baywood Yarns
    Bearfoot (Mountain Colors)
    Briar Rose Fibers
    Brooklyn Handspun
    Cavyshops Handpaint
    C*eye*ber Fiber
    Cervinia Calzetteria
    CTH Superglitz
    Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks
    Chewy Spaghetti
    Classic Elite Alpaca Sox
    Colinette Cadenza
    Colinette Jitterbug
    Country Classic Yarn for Sox
    Crash Into Ewe
    Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop
    Curious Yarns
    Done Roving
    Dream in Color
    Duet (A Swell Yarn Shop)
    Dye Dreams
    Ellen's Half Pint Farm
    End of the World Farm
    Fashion Trend Sportivo
    The Fiber Denn
    Fleece Artist
    The Flock Bransonas
    Fortissima
    French Hill Farm
    Froehlich Blauband
    Fyberspates
    geeyouknit!
    Gjestal Silja
    Great Adirondack Soxie
    Greenwood Fiberworks
    Jaeger Matchmaker
    Jarbo Mini Raggi
    Jawoll
    Jawoll Cotton
    Just Our Yarn
    Knit Purl Natural Collection
    Kona Superwash
    KP Dancing
    KP Essential Tweed
    Lime & Violet
    Lisa Souza
    Louet Gems Pearl
    Luxe
    Mama Llama
    Merlin the Cat
    Meilenweit Cotton
    Meilenweit Trend
    Mind's Eye Merino/Tencel
    Mirasol Hacho
    Misty Mountain Farm
    The Natural Dye Studio
    Neighborhood Fiber Company
    Over the Rainbow Twinkletoes
    Peterle
    Pigeon Roof Studios
    Pine Woods
    Posh Yarn Lucia
    Prism Saki
    Pucker Brush Farm
    Regia Surf
    Reynolds Swizzle
    Reynolds Soft Sea Wool
    Rio De La Plata
    Royale Hare
    Roz Houseknecht
    Schaefer Anne
    Scout's Swag
    Sheep Shop Wensleydale
    Shelridge Farm
    ShibuiKnits
    Sockenwolle Unipo
    Spirit Trail Fiberworks
    Spunky Eclectic
    Steinbach Wolle Sockenwolle
    Sundara Yarn
    Sweetgeorgia
    Tess Designer Yarns
    Twisted
    The Unique Sheep
    Universal Ditto
    Valley Yarns Franklin
    vanCalcar Acres
    White Oak Studio tvyarn
    Wisdom Yarns Marathon
    Wool in the Woods
    The Woolen Rabbit
    Yarn Botanika Radiance
    Yarntini
    Ysolda Yarn
    Zen Yarn Garden


    To check out:

    Pippikneesocks
    Sophie's Toes
    The Spinning Bunny Yarns BFL

WIPs and FOs