You sock knitters should check out the new Shibui Sock yarn. Hand dyed, superwash Merino with lots of twist for longer wear. Similar to Koigu but in more vivid colors and 175 meters vs 175 yards.
Okay, let me add one of my pet peeves about yarn. Everytime I look at all these absolutely lovely yarns, they are displayed as they are on the hank. While that is nice, it really gives me no idea what it will look like when it is knitted up. I like the sites that show you both the hank and a swatch or a sock. It’s not a problem for the solid colors, of course, but the variegateds and the self-patterning/self striping yarns really need to be swatched! Is this just my hang-up, or do other knitters experience this same frustration? I really can’t tell what some yarns will do when they knit up.
When my wife designed the Shibui yarn line she used a program that was able to show what the variegated yarn looked like knitted up. You entered the kind of stitch, gauge, and row length and it showed what it looked like knitted up. Pretty cool, but the program is really expensive as it is used by commercial mills. I was wondering if it would be worthwhile doing a simpler version for our website. The problem is that monitors are not always calibrated correctly so there is no guarantee that it’ll look like it will in real life.
I hate you. You just had to point that out.
I bought an Elizabeth Zimmerman book just for her “moccasin sock” pattern - the sole is constructed such that when it wears, you can pick out that yarn, unravel it carefully, and that leaves active stitches that you pick up and can re-knit a new sole. Now I might have more impetus to actually make that.
What did I do? 
Sorry, thought I was being obvious - now I “have” to spend money on that! 
So just physically knitting up a swatch of each and photographing it is not an option because each hank is…unique? Unreproduceable? A lot of work?
By the way, the yarn is lovely. Good thing I’m broke right now…oooh, but Lillith Fair was jonesing for yarn yesterday (searching the house for a missing gift certificate to a yarn store, and she hasn’t even cast on the second sock yet…she’s got it bad!). I’ll send her the link!
That is an awesome sweater! When you finish it, you must post pictures.
I bought that pattern before Christmas, but haven’t started it yet! Probably won’t until the fall.
I enjoy making socks, but I usually end up working on bigger projects like sweaters more. Right now, I’m making Zephyr’s Wicked. Next is another Zephyr pattern, Rusted Root.
Great question (someday I should start an “Ask The Husband of the Yarn Store Owner” thread). There are two issues. First, there are lots of colors (30 for Shibui, hundreds for Koigu) so knitting up a sample in each is time consuming. We already have to photograph each yarn hank in each color for the web site and there are thousands of SKUs. The bigger issue is that the pattern of the kniited yarn will differ depending on the shape of the knitted piece. A baby blanket might yield “pools” of color, while a baby sock might give stripes. Our yarns are pretty reproducible even though they are hand dyed. The colors come in the same order and each color is hand dipped in the vat for a pre-determined length.
Does 175 meters of that Shoigu make a single sock? The Trekking that Lillith Fair bought today (I dragged her away from work to go look at yarn) is 420 m, and it’s supposed to make a pair. Thanks for the explanation about the swatches.
I cast on the second sock today, got three rows in and something went dreadfully wrong, so I had to frog it and restart…in front of the whole waiting room full of senior citizens at my mom’s eye doctor! So embarassing! When my mom came out from her appointment and saw me still knitting away…and I wasn’t any further along than when she went back to see the doctor…I had to fess up to her too…and she laughed at me!
My daughter just gave me the software and cord for her camera to figure out how to upload the pictures, so watch this space tomorrow! When we went to the yarn store today, I looked at the sample socks they had there for the Moda Dea yarn, and they are the same huge size as mine, so now I feel better. My daughter tried on the sock at lunch, decided she loved it, it fit, and she wants it when I finish the mate. I told her she could bite me, this pair of socks is for ME!
Yes, it will make one adult sock.
Darn!
I’m beginning to think that it took me less time to learn how to knit than it has to earn how to upload this picture of my sock, but here it finally is!
Lillith Fair is working steadily on her second sock, and I’m planning a marathon video-watching/knitting session tonight…but the snowy weather is making me think I might just knit a scarf for Easter! Lillith ordered a bunch of sock knitting books on Amazon today, and I was browsing through my list of “Books I’d Love To Get Someday” when I discovered the most wonderful thing…I’m actually tearing up a bit as a result…a Doper has sent me an Amazon gift certificate to use for knitting books or whatever! I haven’t checked my alternate email that I use for the Dope for a few days, but I couldn’t get the link in this post to work, so I sent it to myself to test, and when I opened my other email account I found the ecard and the gift certificate…sort of a belated birthday gift, and quite possibly one of the nicest things that has happened to me in a long time. Thank you so much! I’m going to make a proper thank you post in MPSIMS just in case you don’t see it here. I’m so surprised and thankful…you have no idea.
I’m going to bring my ferrets ashes over here to experience this thread. He used to love socks.
It’s so not fair! Lillith Fair is almost ready to turn the heel on sock #2, and I’m only three inches along! She sat and knitted and watched TV all day, while I had to work. Fortunately, though, she has to make this hat in a hurry, so I’ll have time to catch up. I didn’t realize this was going to become an actual race! She’s made the hat once before, though, so it may not take as long as I hope.
You inspired me!
Or maybe I’m just crazy, but last night I was up until 2 am knitting.
Okay, I had a bit of insomnia and couldn’t sleep, so I figured to do something useful and since that was the only project I had close at hand (didn’t want to wake the rest of the house) I turned the heel and am working along at a steady pace.
Plus it’s in these Easter-egg colours (see the link to the sock yarn in my last post :D) , so I felt the need for some brightness.
But I’ve also got this sweater almost done for my son. I just need to block it, put in the buttonholes and sew it all together. Then I can start on A Cardigan for Arwen from Interweave Knits Winter 2006, which I told myself I couldn’t start until I finished my son’s (that way it kept me on track, I’m so flibbertigibbet that I’d flit from project to project and take longer to finish them all!)
I have finally found the Christmas stocking pattern that is not a buttload of Fair Isle Madness ( which I adore to look at but wish to retain what little is left of my sanity.) at Knitting at Knoon
I will swatch up bit today with the left overs of Lamb’s Pride Worsted Weight ( I can’t get enough of this stuff.) and then decide, after one stocking if I am up to doing six (for all the kidlets in my life) with a possible expansion to making 9 total.
(D’ya think a pair of contrasting Christmas stockings would make a good wedding presents for germans over in Germany? I could include a beer or soemthing in the stocking. I’m not entirely sure if they do Xmas stockings over there.