Friday, November 21, 2008

Holey

I experienced my first sock casualty today. BOTH heels in a pair of socks completely gave way.

Stormy Days socks holes_01

Those are socks knit with Claudia Handpainted fingering yarn in the Stormy Days colourway. I thought I had blogged about them before, but apparently not. These socks were an experiment in knitting toe-up socks with a heel flap, and they turned out just fine except for the fact that the colours of each sock pooled pretty differently (not so obvious in this photo). However, I thought that knitting a slip-stitch heel was supposed to make it sturdier? Or maybe not?

I can't remember when exactly I knit these socks, maybe last year, maybe the year before, but they were far from the first pair of socks that I knit, nor were they the handknit socks that I wore the most. I have other socks (knit with Regia, Lorna's Laces, and Fleece Artist yarns) that I've worn just as much (if not more), and none of them show signs of biting the dust anytime soon (and I usually knit short-row heels, sans reinforcement). It seems like this yarn just doesn't hold up as well as the others?

I have other socks knit out of this yarn that I haven't worn yet (including my Monkeys), as well as yarn for 2 more pairs of socks in the stash. So now I'm thinking, maybe they shouldn't become socks if the yarn isn't that hard-wearing? Maybe they want to be something else? A Chevron scarf? Gloves/Mittens? Hats? Maybe I should put the other socks into the rotation and see how they hold up?

Stormy Days socks on Sophie_01

Sophie's not quite sure what to do either.

4 comments:

Katy said...

Wear the other socks and see how they hold up. But I'd knit the all-merino sock yarns into something that doesn't get worn in shoes, like a neverending Chevron Scarf. (Believe me, you will give up before you've used up 200 grams of yarn)

Unknown said...

Wow. That's quite a blow out. Definitely wear the other socks and see how they do before you give up on the yarn all together!

Anonymous said...

It's so odd that both holes appeared on the same day. I don't have any socks knit from Claudia's, but I do have 2 pairs of Koigu socks. I've heard that Koigu is comparable. They seemed just about the same when I used Koigu & Claudia's Handpainted in one Chevron Scarf. My Koigu socks have worn really well.

So far I've knit all of my socks cuff down with a heel like your Stormies had.

I agree with the others, start wearing your other Claudias to see how they hold up. Maybe change the way you wash them?

I also agree with Sophie: it's a very perplexing & disappointing situation.

Karen said...

Wow. That's impressive. I can't believe it happened at the same time too! I don't have a lot of experience with different sock yarns, but I'd probably be inclined to use the rest of what you have for a scarf instead - just in case.

Sockhead Sophie! Hee hee. What a cutie.