Tuesday, November 27, 2007

last socks of november ....


it's not that i'm being especially prolific, it's just that i'm getting ready to go offline for a spell (a 10 day trip, 3rd world travel, no internet, lots of bichos).

these socks have lingered for what feels like forever, but it's really only been about a month and a half.

the yarn is maizy by crystal palace. i bought it because of its interesting fiber content, cornfiber and elastic nylon. it makes a very nice fabric, and (so far) feels like a good substitute for folks that avoid wool or wool blends, and it has more memory than cotton or cotton blended yarns. and, it's machine washable.

so, that's the good.

the bad: splitty as f*cking hell! seriously.

redemption: nice fabric if you manage to knit all its plys, and i saw it somewhere in a lovely shade of bittersweet ... i was almost tempted.

the pattern is spey valley from nancy bush's _knitting on the road_. in true nancy bush form, it has a wonderful little *extra* ... horizontal knitted bands that amazingly maintain the stretch of the ribbed pattern. i love the little details.

notes to self: susan bates 2.25 mm dpns, and if find that *bittersweet* again, snatch it up !

4 comments:

Stacey said...

Have fun on your trip!!

Another NB classic knit....splitty yarns are beyond annoying. It takes all the fun out of it!

Crystal Palace Yarns said...

Hi,

Your Maizy socks are lovely and they have such nice high cuffs! Glad it went so far.

I have to say a bit about the splittiness! We had a choice for both Panda Cotton and Maizy as to whether we wanted a Tight Ply (no splitting, but the yarn would feel hard after knitting and "bumpy" on the bottom) or... more lightly plyed so the feel would be wonderful, but the yarn would be somewhat splitty.

We picked the lighter ply - one tip, try different pointed needles, some find that blunter tips split less or vice versa.

The comments about how soft Maizy and Panda Cotton are wouldn't be made it we'd done the tight ply.

Regards, Susan

Susan C. Druding
Crystal Palace Yarns
Richmond, CA 94804
web: www.straw.com

Jennie said...

Have a fantastic trip! Can't wait to see all the projects you knit up when you get back. :)

Amanda Cathleen said...

your socks are beautiful! I love the cuffs.
Splitty yarns are so very irritating!