I won this gorgeous yarn last year in a competition on MaiaSpins (the blog of one of the owners of Tactile Fibre Arts), and I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

At the time, I was a non-knitter with an aesthetic interest in sock knitting I was offered fingering or sport, took the thickest, easiest to knit option, and when she said that it would be naturally dyed, I expected blah, washed out colours that would end up in the back of a drawer somewhere, never to see the sight of knitting needles.

I realised my mistake when this gorgeous skein landed on my doorstep.

The Lowdown:

The Swatch:

Using 2.5mm / US 1.5, I achieved 7.5 stitches and 10 rows to the inch.

The Knitting:

Fantastic! Sport weight makes whipping up a pair of socks a comparitive breeze and watching the colours spiral around as I knit was more than enough to keep me interested. The yarn is soft and sproingy and a pleasure to knit.

The First Wash:

No real noticable change, I washed and ironed them before I gave them away.

The Wearing:

Still gorgeous, I gave these socks to my mother for Christmas last year and they’re still looking as new. The yarn is showing no signs of wear, the colour is as vibrant as the leftovers that have never been washed and they still fit like, well, a sock.

The Price:

This pair was the magic price of $0, but other sock yarns from the Tactile website are around the $30 mark. I have some of their gorgeous merino tencel (the superwash merino sport isn’t available on the website) and it’s beautiful. I recognise that $30 is a LOT of money to pay for a skein of yarn, but for beautiful yarn, naturally dyed in such gorgeous colours, it’s absolutely worth treating yourself. That said, I’m looking for the perfect pattern for this skein, probably not socks, so that I can get the best use out of it.

I wouldn’t buy enough of this yarn to make a sweater or skirt, but a single skein is an affordable indulgence and the Tactile crew are expert posters.

The Conclusion:

This yarn is a solid performer, a great base yarn combined with the good feeling of natural dyes, all enhanced by the superior dye job of the brand’s owners. I love it and would happily knit and wear their fibres more or less all of the time, if only it were in the budget.

Five skeins out of five.

STR Silkie, available from Blue Moon Fibre Arts, is a 3 ply, fingering weight yarn, with one of the threads made up of a blend of superwash merino and bombyx silk.

It’s not a huge amount of silk. Let’s be honest, at 19% it doesn’t have the same luxurious cachet as a high percentage silk yarn, but it’s surprisingly soft and delicious. The silk takes dye differently to the superwash only plies, it’s far less saturated, giving a nice heathered effect that I believe goes a long way towards counteracting the horrid pooling that STR is known for.

I purchased my skein in Jade, which has a few shades but is a more tonal colourway than most of the STR stable, which will also help with pooling. My pattern, Zara, made up of a broken rib, also helped to break up the colour runs.

I wear a size 7 shoe and like my socks with a short cuff and had 42g / 1.5oz left over from my pair, which is more than enough for a child’s pair. The yardage, at 329m / 360yd, is a little on the short side, but the yarn is thicker than most fingering yarns in my stash, I got 13 wpi for the silkie, making it closer to a sport weight, compared to 16 for the STR Lighweight and ShiBui Sock and 17 for Regia Color 4ply.

The Low Down:

The Swatch:

On 2.25mm, US size 1 needles, I got a comfortable 9 stitches and 13 rows to the inch.

The Knitting:

People have reported splitting issues and irritations with this yarn. I knit these magic loop on a single knit picks circular needle and I didn’t have any trouble at all, it was actually a pleasure to knit with, soft on the hands and easy on the needles.

The First Wash:

Upon washing (hand washed in cold water with a wool wash and dried flat out of the sun) the yarn immediately bloomed and took on a very slight halo. It doesn’t negate from the look of the socks at all.

The Wearing:

They’ve worn really well, with very little pilling, fading, shrinking or stretching.

Reports on Ravelry indicate that the fabric has a tendancy to shrink and full, but with gentle washing and, admittedly, gentle wearing, I haven’t had any problems in the weeks since they were completed.

The Price:

At $24 for a 100g / 3.5oz skein, it’s at the upper end of the mass-produced indie sock yarns (is that a juxtaposition or what?) and I probably wouldn’t have bought it if I hadn’t been involved in a group order over on the Aus Knitters group on Ravelry.

However, once I started knitting with it, and even more so once I saw and wore the finish product, I really think that this one is well and truely worth the money.

The Conclusion:

I pulled out a few other hand knit socks while I was researching this review, including the same pattern in a few yarns and it has just further convinced me that this yarn is worth spending my money on.

It’s soft, easy to knit, the colour is gorgeous and it’s a nice treat to knit something as commonplace as socks with a beautiful yarn that has a touch of silk in.

Four and a half skeins out of five.