Monday, November 27, 2006





Here are my friend Joelle's horses waiting impatiently for someone to give them some sugar cubes. Yoshi, the leopard Appaloosa, actually came with their house when they bought it.

I've had questions in the comments about finding solid colored sock yarn. Once upon a time in a land far far away you could buy wonderful colors of sock and fingering weight yarns at many locations. Currently I can't think of a single sock yarn that comes in a lot of solid colors and good luck finding any other type of non-washable non-Shetland fingering weight wool yarn. (This is partly the reason I plan my designs in thicker weights of yarn.) Here's what I currently buy:

Worsted weight - I use Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool and Knitpick's Wool of the Andes because they're cheap. I especially stock up on neutral colors (black, white, gray, cream, etc.) in these two lines of yarn. I also need really bright colors so for that I buy the slightly more expensive Cascade 220. If I had an unlimited budget I'd probably just use Cascade 220 exclusively because I love the saturated colors and the softness. Alas, when you like to knit with many colors you end up buying more yarn than other types of knitters so I work to keep costs down.

Sport weight - I'm currently attempting to increase my sport weight stash. I still have quite a bit of Nature Spun in many colors but I need some new sources. I just bought some Knitpick's Telemark (I've read it can bleed) to test and am still searching for other lines in this weight.

Fingering weight/sock yarns - For sock yarns I've been buying Knitpicks Essentials in their limited colors - also the Calzinia Calzeterria from Smiley's (some colors do bleed). I also bought a ton of Kroy on sale in wonderful fluorescent colors at Herrschner's last year when those colors were being discontinued. For non-washable fingering weight wool yarn I can only think of Nature Spun. I just ordered some from Paradise Fibers (it was back-ordered) and I don't know where else to find all the colors.

I'm very worried Nature Spun is also going to be discontinued and I have no clue what I'd use for finer gloves in colorwork other than sock yarn. I have a stash of Shetland yarns in this weight but it is pretty scratchy and I can't personally wear it without itching. Knitpick's Palette seems a bit softer than Shetland and I just bought some to try for a pair of men's gloves.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions for yarn brands that come in a lot of (more than 40) colors. I regularly do a visual check of my stash of yarns to see if there are any basic colors I need in each weight and then try to stock up. Web's big year-end sale is coming up soon so I will probably see what they have to offer and stock up there. They always have Cascade 220 in limited colors on sale and hopefully this year they'll have some sock yarns I like.