Handspun Socks - Take 1 - Yarn and Starting to Knit

I've wanted to spin for my handknit socks for a long time, but I just never tried it.  So it went into my 13Skills list. For my first attempt, I wanted fun to spin wools.

A soft fine wool and a set of Moonrover batts were my choices.

I'd spun the wool quite fine, and found these yarns puffed up quite a bit then testing the ply. The yarn is quite a bit thicker than regular sock yarn.

I was really happy with the white plied with the darker variegated yarn after it was spun.  And now that I'm knitting up Gusset Heel Basic Socks (toe up), I love the gentle striping effect in the socks as I start to knit them.  I've had to modify the pattern to accommodate my thicker yarn and size 2 needles.  A decrease of 8 stitches in the overall number of stitches is working well.

A side note on patterns in Kindle books:  I purchased Socks from the Toe Up for the Kindle. It's lovely to have my books with my all the time.  But I was at a loss at how make project notes. UGH.  After some tinkering, I found I could open the book in the kindle reader on my PC and take screen shots and print them.  Then I can make notes on the pattern to my heart's content.  After more tinkering with the Kindle app, I found there is the ability to make notes in Kindle books.  But it's just not the same as keeping track on paper.  PC notes are easy, but I don't knit near my PC and notes from my phone are not easy.  Paper is faster and easier in this case.  I'll scan my notes afterward to keep for future projects with the same pattern.

Back to the knitting project...

These socks are a blast to work on, but I think there's not enough twist to make the socks last a long time. These will be squishy soft socks, but not so durable.

When I spin for socks again I'll need to:

• Use a higher ratio whorl on my wheel - so I get more twist in my singles and plied yarns.
• Spin finer for thinner yarn.  This yarn is pretty thick for knitting the patterns I want to knit.
• Consider using a 3 ply yarn - perhaps Navajo plied.

Fear not I'm not discouraged at all.  I'm enjoying the process and am already planning for more handspun socks.

Have you spun for socks?  If so, how did you like it?