I have long loved sock yarns, mostly because their yardage/cost ratio is very high, and I can't help being somewhat frugal. I am always reluctant to pay $10 for 100 yards of worsted, but for 400 yards of fingering weight it seems much more reasonable.
With that in mind, I picked up some Happy Feet sock yarn by Plymouth Yarns sometime last winter, probably from the sale bin of my LYS--so I'm not sure how much I paid for them. The colors were warm red and brown, absolutely delicious. For the longest time they just sat in my stash, but I tossed them in my bag of travel knitting. When it came time for me to go to Stockholm, I had decided I wanted, nay, needed to knit myself some socks, so this was the only yarn I took with me.
This yarn was a great re-introduction to socks. It is very squishy but also firm, not splitty at all. I worked it on size 1 DPNs and I have a very firm cozy fabric on my feet right now, keeping my toes warm. Since I was improvising a sock pattern from the toe-up, I ripped and re-ripped this yarn, but it was just as delightful on the reknits as it was on the first time around. It has a bit of spring to it--that's the nylon--that makes it resilient and pleasant. The only downside I found was that it pills up a bit while I'm walking around, but that's to be expected for things with a lot of contact, socks or the elbows of sweaters for example. This would probably make a great hat or shawl. The yardage, too, was generous--I cast on from the two separate skeins for my socks to try and match them, and knit a 3-4 inch cuff, and I have plenty left over for a sock yarn blanket or maybe even enough to make an additional set of anklet-length socks.
The best thing about this yarn, though, is its warm, toasty colors and its subtle variation. You could do lace patterns easily in it--I did ribbing and cables, and they absolutely pop.
Gratuitous shot of yarn on a beach:
That's the Baltic Sea, there. I dipped my toes in it, then climbed back up the rocks to have lunch and take a picture.
How funny, I just went to a new LYS that opened about 25 miles away from me & I bought 4 skeins of Happy Feet....without even reading this post! I fell in love with the colors and well, sock yarn is my nemesis. I also bought some lovely Trekking in Fall colors....hmmm, guess I forgot about my yarn diet!
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