yarn yoga

Unfortunately, while I can write an estimator for yardage-- which simply requires a person to know the area of a sock and the gauge. (Bear in mind: I've assumed stockinette stitch. Ribbing is more difficult to estimate for many reasons, the chief one being, different people have different ideas of how much to stretch to estimate the gauge. So, asking them to tell you the gauge for the same fabric will results in a huge range of "correct" answers.)

I'll through out some ideas anyway. Even though I don't knit socks much, and I've never knit them in cotton, I've heard the main problem with hand knit socks and cotton is that cotton is not as elastic as wool. So, when knitting by hand, it can be difficult to knit the cotton to the nice firm guage people often want in socks.

Machine knitters often swear by some cotton/lycra yarns, and maybe some are available for hand knitters. This can be a solution if you don't mind lycra.

Cotton-acrylic is generally also more elastic, and easier to knit by hand, than pure cotton.

You can also buy lycra carry along yarn at Bonnie Triola's in a humogonormous cone. (Google on Bonnie Triola. I think she calls it "magic yarn". ) This cone would last you a lifetime. If you knit a strand of the lycra with the cotton and steam, the yarn will shrink amazingly. You will have the stretchiest hand knit socks in the world.

(Now that I'm telling you this, I think I'm going to have to knit a sample with 1 strand of cotton and 1 strand of lycra, experiment and take photos before and after steaming. Then I can show you! I've used the lycra for some stuff, but never socks, or even with cotton! So, I can't be exactly sure how it will work.)

Anyway, good luck with the socks. Sorry I can't be more help!
 

Hello! I am drinking (or was drinking) chamomile tea. I lovvee lovve lovvee rasberry tea though! Its so yummy~!
 

Hi! Your post on the Knitlist brought me here. Firstly, Elann's Esprit is comprable to Cascades Fixation only cheaper. If you google for Cascade Fixation sock patterns you should get lots of hits! One that comes to mind is the "Pretty Comfy Sock"...great pattern! You can interchange the Elann Esprit for any Fixation patterns.
As an avid sock knitter, I would suggest that you would be unhappy with pure cotton socks. Cotton has no *memory* and can stretch out terribly...this is why most cotton sock yarns have a tiny bit of wool, to offer the yarn the resilliancy cotton doesnt have. If you are unconvinced, Fortimissa makes an all cotton sock yarn, if you google for it you should find some resources.
One last thing...while I respect your decision to be a Vegan, it is my understanding that shearing sheep is NECESSARY for their health and well being, sheep that remain unshorn can get fungal skin disease that eventually lead to their demise! So making a choice not to EAT sheep is sound logic but avoiding wool because it is a byproduct of healthy sheep maintenance doesn't seem beneficial to the sheep! Rethinking and researching this may *allow* you a bit more variety in your sock knitting ventures!
As I said, I am an avid sock knitter, so if you have questions, please feel free to email or post a comment on my blog!
Debi
PS- avoid synthetic sock yarns if you can, synthetics make your feet sweat yet conversely aren't very warm! Natural fibers with a small synthetic content (ie: 25% nylon for durability) are the way to go...HTH!!!
 

Lucia, thanks so much for your ideas. I'm going to be brave and do a little experimenting with this once I finish up some other projects. I may just give it a shot with the Bernat sock yarn. I'd much rather a cotton blend than pure cotton, that's for sure!

Thanks for your comments, Debi. I do believe that shearing sheep is necessary for their health. Humans have greatly contributed to making it necessary by selective breeding. Some sheep have been breed to enhance wrinkles in the skin, which makes them carry even more wool then they were originally meant to have. Certain industries are well known to treat their sheep in unethical manners, making shearing more of a torture than a relief for the sheep. I am not anti-wool completely, as plenty of vegans are. I am fine with using wool from farms that raise sheep more as pets and do not send them to slaughterhouses to die. Living in the South, the weather is so hot that wool is pretty much overkill even for winter. It is easy for me to avoid wool and that's all the better, so that people who 'need' wool can buy from the ethical sources instead.
 

Hey there--

I too got here by way of the Knitlist. I would definitely recommend staying away from anything with acrylic in it for sock knitting. Nylon is okay, and helps the socks wear longer, but acrylic isn't breathable, and makes your feet sweat, and you're never quite able to get the smell out. Eww.

I love those Retro Rib socks as well! 8 sts/inch is a pretty common gauge for sock knitting, but unfortunately you'll find that a lot of the cotton sock yarns out there will knit up to 6-7 sts/inch. (At least, that's been my experience; you may be a tighter knitter than I am.)

Luckily, I have huuuuuge feet (I wear a women's size 12), so it's hardly a problem for me. But if you've got more "average" sized feet for a woman, your best bet in this case, is to first swatch, and then experiment with what might happen if you just take out one pattern repeat (8 sts). So instead of casting on 64 like the pattern says, try casting on 56 sts instead. Or 48, or so on.

If you're willing to do a little research on the company and figure out what's up with their sheep (I'm not really knowledgeable, personally), you might check out Plymouth Sockotta. It's a cotton/wool/nylon blend, and it's my absolute favorite for socks, and it's lightweight enough even for summer. But since you're a vegan, you might also ask around and see how exactly the cottons are processed; it's depressing how much animal product is used in products that we wouldn't think would have anything to do with animals. You probably know this already, though. :)

At any rate, good luck with your erstwhile sock knitting!
 

I have used Fixation for socks and I am using Esprit. To compare the two, they are similar but I feel that Fixation is smoother. However, both produce rather thick socks, which may not be better for very warm weather than wool. If you are not completely anti-wool, you can try wool/cotton blend sock yarns, like Sockatta. They are fingering weight and the socks you make from them would be thinner. I hope this helps.
 

Thanks so much for all of the feedback! I'll probably try the bernat yarn because of the elastic, but now i have quite a few options to choose from for lots of different patterns. I'll be sure to post when I start on them!

Thanks again!