While all the world is busy knitting The Scarves with the glut of (ugly!) novelty yarn that is clogging craft stores everywhere, “serious” knitters are suddenly churning out socks. Apparently, the days of knitting a strand of nylon reinforcement yarn into the heels and toes are over–sock yarn is now either a blend of wool and nylon, or superwash wool.
I like to knit socks. I really like to knit them. I like to wear them even more, but… I am afraid to. If they got holes in them, I might have to commit seppuku. So my question is this: how well do hand-knitted socks hold up? It would be great to get specific answers for
The nylon/wool blends, like Regia and Kroy
The all-wool yarns, like KnitPicks Sock Garden and Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock
The almighty Koigu KPPPM, with which I’m having a passionate affair.
It’s not just the wool/yarn - it’s also the skill of the knitter. A knitter whose technique imposes less wear and stress on the wool will have stronger, longer-lasting socks than one who is rough on the yarn.
Wear your socks. Yes, they will eventually get hole no matter what you do, they’re socks, for goodness sake! And there’s no reason you can’t knit reinforcement strands into your socks, if you want to.
From what I understand, they hold up fairly well. I’m trying to knit socks right now. I’ve never knitted socks before, just knitted sock. And then gotten bored before there was an actual pair of the things - so I don’t know how well they hold up.
You could always do your socks with replaceable toes and heels (which is where I’d guess they’d be most likely to get holey) and then when they do develop holes, you could quickly and easily replace the part of the sock with the holes.
Or save the scrap yarn and learn to kitchener really well.
The nylon reinforcement yarn has disappeared from my usual haunts; I will look around for it. My guess is that the wool/nylon sock yarns are supposed to have rendered it moot… except that so much sock yarn is still pure wool.
I’ve only knitted one pair, of which I am inordinately proud. I only wear them in winter, because they’re made of cheapie sport weight acrylic. So they’re very warm and comfy. I made them while my mom was in the hospital having surgery for colon cancer, so I know they’ve lasted three winters now and are only beginning to show signs of developing a hole. I figure I can darn them up, cause I worked hard on those socks and they’re nice and warm on a snowy day, and did I say I was proud of them? They were, when I did them, the most complicated knitting I’d ever undertaken.
Wear 'em. Do not fear holes, embrace them! Once you get the hang of it, darning is fun! All it takes is some patience and some practice, and you’ll be darning those socks straight to heck! (Never throw away your scrap yarn.)
I have knitted two pairs of socks out of Regia, and I wear them every day off, then wash them, so they’re getting worn and washed about once a week. When they wear out, I’ll let you know. (I darned a hole in a fine-gauge sweater, in case you were wondering where I picked up the darning bug. I can’t wait for the next hole.)
My friend, the goddess of knitting, informs me that she has a four year old pair of 100% wool socks that has seen three winters of very hard wear - machine wash/dry three or four times a week - and they are still holding up. The only reason she doesn’t wear them as much anymore is because she has learned to knit socks that fit better. She also tells me that members of her sock knitters email list have told of ten year old pairs of socks in good condition.
There’s a type of sock yarn that comes with a little roll of reinforcement yarn in the middle of the hank. I can’t remember what it’s called. I’ll let you know if I remember or find it.
I’ve also heard that you can use a heavy sewing thread (buttonhole twist type-thing) as reinforcement thread. My bible of handiwork from the late 1930s suggests exactly this.
And replaceable toes and heels are things of beauty.
Miss Purl, where might one find a pattern for socks with replaceable heels and toes? Are there decent ones available, say, free on the web, or is there a particular pattern or book of patterns you recommend?
Right now I’m in the middle of a complicated cabled sweater, but I’m beginning to get an itch to make more socks. And I could keep socks in a bag in the car, you know, in case I ended up somewhere where it would be handy to have some knitting to pass the time.
I’m not sure where online, Bren. The pattern I’ve used is from an encyclopedia of handiwork printed in the late '30s. It’s more of recipe than a pattern, really. It explains the technique used, gives a sample pattern, and explains how you can alter the pattern to fit your feet. Unfortunately, my book is at home and I’m school, two hours away. If you like, I can get the pattern to you in a couple weeks when I go home for spring break, once I figure out if it’s still copyrighted or not.
Otherwise, there are a couple of really good knitting communities on the internet, and I can give those to you and you can ask there.
<hijack> Don’t they sell socks in stores where y’all are from? Seriously…how long does it take to knit a pair? I would think many hours at least. How can it be cost efficient to knit socks? Even if your time is only worth minimum wage, wouldn’t hand knitted socks be very costly? </hijack>
Also, would hand knitted socks be bulky…like little foot sweaters?
vetbridge, not be rude, but I think you’re missing the point of handknitting. It’s not about cost-effectiveness. It’s about making something with your own hands and wearing it proudly, because you were skilled enough to make it. The same goes for sweaters, scarves, anything you knit. Yes, it does take a long time, but it’s worth it. It’s doubly worth it when it’s for someone you love.
And knitted fabric can go anywhere from really fine to really chunky. Most handknitted items aren’t pantyhose light, but you can knit stockings/socks that are finer than your average athletic sock.
vetbridge: * How can it be cost efficient to knit socks? Even if your time is only worth minimum wage, wouldn’t hand knitted socks be very costly? *
As has been mentioned, hand-knitting is not really about cost-efficiency. However, given that good-quality wool socks can be quite expensive ($9–12 per pair, say?), then if you can knit yourself a pair that will stand up well to heavy use for several years, you might in fact end up saving money on the long-term cost.
(Weird, this is the second thread in the last few days where the subject of good vs. cheap socks has come up.)
The sewing thread idea is so obvious, I feel silly for not thinking of it. Still… the wool would wear through, and one would have knitted thread. Not a particularly inviting thought.
And, a pair of socks takes me a total of about eight hours to knit. I do it while I’m watching TV in the evening, so–no biggie.
Blauband. theknitter.com has it, although not a very wide selection. My LYS has it as well.
All the wool/nylon sock yarns I have used have stood up very well. I would not recommend Wool-Ease sportweight, though. It just doesn’t seem to be sturdy enough for socks.
Thank you all for the information. At eight hours of labor plus material cost you have a pair of expensive socks! Please tell me you wear them under hand made Italian shoes.
vetbridge: *At eight hours of labor plus material cost you have a pair of expensive socks! *
Well, since my hand is in at sock cost amortization calculations from the concurrent thread in GD, I’ll undertake to quantify this a bit.
Valuing the labor of hobby-knitting conservatively at, say, US$8 per hour (since the knitter is also being compensated by the enjoyment of the handicraft, and most can combine it with other social or recreational activities too) gives you a labor cost of $64; throw in material cost and round it up to $72.
If your handmade socks can last for a couple hundred wearings (say twice a week for 20 weeks a year for 5 years, which doesn’t sound unreasonable from the comments of knitters here), and commercial wool socks at about $12 per pair hold up for about forty or fifty wearings (which is about how long mine seem to last), then the comparable cost of buying socks would be $48–60.
So over the long run, your hand-knitted socks aren’t that much more expensive than boughten socks would be. And that’s not even taking into account the added value of the handmade ones in terms of prettier colors and patterns and better fit (commercial socks are usually sold as “one size fits all”, which doesn’t really).
If you treat the knitting as 100% recreational, which is the way many knitters see it, then the “labor” isn’t costing you anything, and your handmade socks are a great deal by any standard.
(I darned a hole in a fine-gauge sweater, in case you were wondering where I picked up the darning bug. I can’t wait for the next hole.)
