Bernat Sox Yarn Review

Bernat Sox is an acrylic/nylon mix which can be knit on 2.25mm needles making it pretty useful. The yarn information says a 3.25mm needle but having used this yarn I'd say that was far too big. Apparently it's been discontinued by Bernat, but it's still coming up on Ebay and you may find it on sale somewhere while they clear out stocks.

It's available in plain colours and variegated (links are to the Yarndex pages of the yarn). You can see the Sox Multi projects on Ravelry here and the Sox Plain projects here.

Examples of Sox socks:






There are 203 yards per ball meaning that you will need 2 for an adult pair of socks.

Some people like acrylic yarn, personally this yarn makes my teeth itch and I only used it as the variety of vegan sock yarn a few years ago was terrible. I do like the socks I've made with it and they appear to be lasting forever, but I won't be buying any more.

Anna in Liverpool England

Elann Esprit Yarn Review

Elann Esprit is almost exactly the same as Cascade Fixation bar the lower price, it's details are:

Fibre Content: 98.3% Cotton 1.7% Elastic
Made In: Brazil
Care: Hand Wash/ Dry Flat
Gauge: 25 st/4 inches 4.5 mm (US 7)
Yardage: 91m/ 100 yds (relaxed) - 170m/186 yds (stretched)
Size: 50g (1.75 oz) ball
Price: $2.75 USD

It's available in plain colours and prints.

Again the needle size is a bit big for socks I think, and it knits well on 3.25mm needles which is what most Fixation patterns call for.

Having used both the Esprit and the Fixation I really couldn't tell much, if any, difference between the two and the Esprit wears and washes as well as the Fixation does. If Elann didn't have such stupid shipping rates to England I'd be stocking up on the prints for sure!

Examples of Esprit socks:





Anna in Liverpool England

Cascade Fixation Yarn Review

I'm going to jump in with this one before someone else gets there!

Cascade Fixation, in my opinion, is a wonderful yarn that knits up in to comfortable thick cotton socks that wear and wash really well. The yarn is 98.3% cotton and 1.7% elastic and knits up really well for socks on 3.25mm needles (the label says 4.5mm which might work for a garment but with socks I believe you need a much tighter fabric), the gauge is given as 29 stitches and 12 rows per 10cm. There are 100 yards relaxed and 183 yards stretched on a 50 gram ball which means you need 2 balls for a pair of adult socks or 1 ball for a pair of anklets.

Examples of Fixation socks:










More and more Fixation patterns are showing up finally, a few years back there were very few interesting ones to be had. Some of my Fixation patterns are listed on the sidebar or can be found at my blog.

It can take a little knitting to get used to the yarn and how much you should stretch it when you're knitting, but once you've got the hang of it it's great to use and I always have a good few balls in my stash!

Anna in Liverpool England

Sock Candy Yarn Review

Sock Candy is a Cotton/Elite (96%/4%) yarn made by the people who make Socks That Rock sock yarn. It comes in many of the same colourways:


Limestone


Ambrosia


Carbon


Kiwi


Lemongrass


'Old' Key West (they have re-done this colourway and made it much brighter)


Scaponia

There are approximately 200 yards per skein which means that you need 2 to knit a regular sized pair of socks (ankle socks you might get away with 1 skein). Each skein weighs 2oz so it's pretty lightweight yarn, you're not going to feel like you have weights on your feet wearing these socks!

The ball band says 7-8 stitches per inch on size 2 needles. I have used both 2.75 and 2.5mm needles with this yarn and both work well. As the needles are a little bigger you find the socks knit up fast!

There are plenty of sock patterns using 2.5mm needles around now, if you're on Ravelry the projects page for Sock Candy can be found here, there are currently 32 projects showing. Or, if like me, you just love the colourways, you can knit nice plain socks using this yarn, as you can see I've done a few of those now! The pattern for the Lemongrass and Scaponia socks shown above can be found free on my blog which is here.

I love this yarn, the only problem that I have with it is that it's hard to find. I got mine from The Fold, it isn't on the website so you need to email Toni (tell her that Anna in England sent you!) and ask what she has in stock. It's also a bit pricey, but for the quality and the colourways I think it's worth it as a treat (and who doesn't need a sock yarn treat now and again?!?).

Anna in Liverpool England