Yarns to Love
The Dreamy Solids of Spud & Chloë
Sometimes, you want the confetti cake batter ice cream, in a waffle cone, with sprinkles.
Other times, a scoop of plain chocolate hits the spot. No chocolate chips, no Marshmallow Fluff. Just cold, milky chocolate, please.
Sock yarns are like that. Hand-dyed sock yarns have no limits.
You’ve got the shimmery shifts of nature-inspired color in Megan Ingman’s Lichen and Lace 80/20 Sock.
There’s the painterly wildness of Karida Collins’s Neighborhood Fiber Company Studio Sock. (Some of the shades are named for actual painters.)
And there’s Barnyard Knits Sock/Fingering‘s bucolic speckles and splashes, singing e-i-e-i-o in perfect harmony.
So what’s the exquisitely plain scoop of chocolate in our collection?
In knitting, some things just work better with a nice, solid color.
One of those things, I humbly submit, is stripes. Solid color stripes pop. Single-row stripes, in sharply contrasting solids, darn near vibrate with vibrancy. Variegated stripes can be exciting, no doubt about it, but a knitter will inevitably hit spots where the contrast gets turned down, and the colors melt or fuzz into each other. So for stripes, my choice is chocolate, I mean solid colors.
Alert the Media
This is my fourth pair of socks!
Stripes! But What Kind?
I’ve reverted to a plain stockinette sock, but with a twist that is keeping me fully entertained: I’m working single-row stripes using the helical stripes method we learned from Jen Arnall-Culliford’s video for her series, A Year of Techniques. This was the technique that launched that wonderful series, and it has fascinated me ever since.
So stinkin’ clever. And I swear the stockinette goes faster in single-row stripes. Science!
I had a great time choosing a super-sharp pairing: Calypso and Red Hot.
I dithered for a while over which color I’d use for the toes and heels. Red Hot or Calypso? Calypso or Red Hot?
This is an important decision.
When in doubt: Red Hot.
Watch me go! Join me in knitting some zingy, zippy stripes this summer. Zang!
Beautiful. Looks like you’re not having issues with holes in your short row heels. Can you say anything about that?
I’m going to say the most unhelpful thing: it just didn’t happen on this sock. I have no idea why not. Perhaps this is another miraculous benefit of helical stripes?
On previous socks, I’ve had the hole but just on one side of the heel, and I have deployed a half-baked strategy of picking up a stitch in that hole and then decreasing it away after a round or two. It’s sort of working? I am open to all suggestions.
adding that extra stitch and then decreasing it after a couple of rows is exactly what others suggest doing when picking up a sleeve or a thumb. So go for it!!!
If it were me, and in the interest of using the balls equally, I’d make one sock red toe and heel, and the other blue. Or red heels, blue toes. Love the stripes!
I was going to say just the same!
Just so you know, often silk/merino blends end up not being a solid color, as the silk takes the dye differently than the merino and also loses the dye differently as the socks are washed. This was certainly true of the Spud and Chloe red I used. I was very disappointed in the way the red of my socks became worn-looking very quickly. I hope your striped socks stay as brilliant as they are right now! They are gorgeous.
I will report back after washing them. I do like a tonal solid but I hope the red stays bright.
What heel did you use? It’s beautiful!
The short-row heel in Field Guide No. 11. I’m not enough of a sock wiz yet to start messing with the recipe. I can do it without looking at the book now! (Which means I may never learn another heel.)
Have you ever did the Fish Lips Kiss (FLK) heel? It’s great, and the only one i make now. And no holes Helixical sock knitting is next for me. Always making socks. Love #11 too.
Now I want ice cream.
OK now I”m going to throw a curve ball out how about madelinetosh Spectrum and a solid Navy Blue Spud and Chloe to make Lovers Knot? I have the Spectrum and now for another color to go with it.
The fun is that you can use red hot on one sock and calypso in the other. Or do toes in red hot and heels in calypso. There’s no rule that the socks have to be alike! I have one pair where one sock is the inside out of the other because I liked both so well!
Those stripes look great! Are you knitting one sock on two circular needles? What length needles are you working with?
Yes, one sock on 2 circles, and I believe these are 24 inch cables. You need them to be long enough to dangle out of your way when not in use, but not too much dangle.
As soon as I saw the photo of solid color sock yarn, I thought of Cookie A’s pattern Pomatomus. (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pomatomus) Absolutely the hardest socks I have ever made — and utterly gorgeous! A good pattern for when you want a challenge.
I’m working with the heavier weight for another project and this yarn is worth the price