It certainly took long enough to finish off these socks. They first appeared in the blog back in December, and I only finally kitchenered the last heel this afternoon. They started off as purse knitting, went to a pub or two and the theatre…then promptly were tossed aside as I became somewhat disenchanted with socks over the first half of the year. They never even made it to Ravelry…they were just generic “afterthought heel” socks that only served the purpose of being a distraction.
This was a weird project. The socks actually started out as a scarf. Skacel / Schoppel Wolle, which seems to be a major European yarn manufacturer, likes to have fun with their products. These are the same folks who brought us Crazy Zauberball, after all. The scarf quickly found itself being unravelled, soaked, and reskeined…which is how it stayed for about two years before I decided to knit it up. I really didn’t feel I could just unravel the yarn as I knit…while it might be warm in the winter (until the scarf totally disintegrated), I’m not a huge fan of knitting yarn that’s already kinky-curly from a previous knit-job.
If you compare the before and after shots, you’ll notice that the colour separations are a little wonky. I’m suspecting that’s because the wool was actually dyed in the scarf format, and as you can see in the first photo, those colour separations are nowhere near even or equal. I guess it adds a kind of charm to them. The yarn was also a little rough at first, but it seems to have softened up after a while.
Would I knit with it again? Possibly. Though when you think of it, it was rather high maintenance for a simple pair of striped socks. The unravelling, the washing, the skeining…I’d already done a lot before I even started knitting. I didn’t even bother getting matchy-matchy with the colour sequences. I also wasn’t too fond of the colours. I have no idea why I even chose the yarn, other than it was on sale. It’s kinda like a train wreck in that way…oddly compelling, yet not in a very attractive way.
So yes. Off the needles. One less distraction from the things I need to get done!
I totally heart the color!
Huh. I’ve never seen this variety of yarn before. I agree that pre-knit yarn is difficult to work with. I, too, would likely have skeined and soaked prior to knitting. I think your finished product looks great!
I don’t think it was on the shelves long, and if it was, it was well hidden. I found it in the reduced-price section of one of my local yarn stores and snapped it up because I thought it was an interesting concept. Schoppel-Wolle seems to really be trying to think outside the skein…I’ve also seen their yarn sold in flat “puck” shapes, for putting on a lazy kate while you knit!
Yes, oddly compelling. I like the idea that they’ve been to the pub and the theatre before they even became socks 🙂
I have a few pairs of socks that have gone that route. I find it a wonderful irony that it’s usually the plainest of socks that have the most adventures 😉