This is a question that has been haunting me for a while:
How much basic sock can you get out of your average amount of sock yarn? Sock yarn generally comes in 100g skeins of approximately, or slightly more than, 400 yards. Sometimes you have to buy it in 50g skeins of approximately, or slightly more than, 200 yards. The notable exceptions being rebels such as Colinette Jitterbug and Koigu, who shortchange you on the yardage, but we forgive them, especially the Koigu.
So, I set out to knit a pair of toe-up stockinette socks with 1 skein each of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, and I knit until I couldna knit nae more (that's my fake scottish for ya).
Turns out, 215 yards of fingering weight yarn will get you quite a lot of sock, even on a tallish, big calfish gal such as myself. For someone short or with skinny legs, I'm betting you could get a good pair of knee socks out of two skeins of this stuff no problem.
See? It's about 15 inches from ankle to cuff (of course, your mileage will vary based on gauge, pattern, and yarn). Now that's alotta sock!
Pattern: Basically following Ann Budd's On your Toes socks from IK Summer 2007
Mods: Used magic cast-on instead of Eastern, and stockinette instead of ribbing
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, Happy Stripe (happy indeed!)
Needles: US 1.5 DPNs
Verdict: I love lorna's laces. This yarn is so squishy and nice, and a pleasure to knit with. My other lorna's laces socks have also held up remarkably well.
Drawbacks: They end at the fattest part of my calf, so they don't stay up so good. If I ever get around to it, I might put some elastic in there.
More pics:
Feet:
Toes:
I'll spare you a close-up of my calves.
Cuff:
3 comments:
Great socks! And I so know what you mean. I love knee-highs, but they don't stay up on my chubby calves.
You're reading my mind! I have to put that tin foil hat back on...
I've been wondering the same thing and am going to learn how to knit toe up socks for the express purpose of seeing whether I can get knee highs out of 2 skeins of yarn I bought in Canada. We'll see!
Don't you think it's funny the way sock yarn is sold in such mixed measurements? It doesn't make any sense to me that they package it in grammes and yards. Surely grammes and metres or ounces and yards would be better?
Fun socks. They look cosy.
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