Last fall I was visiting the Finnish craft fair at Tampere and was really happy to find a new Finnish indie dyer's yarns at the booth of yarn shop ILO. I was even happier when the dyer contacted me and asked if I'd like to try out her yarns to write a review. Of course I would!
What: Kyoto / Claudia Eisenkolb
How: Circular needles 2.0 mm
From: Ullrike by Anki Glitter Sock, 63 g
We agreed that Anki would send me some yarn and I'd write a review. Oh, what a happy surprise it was that she sent me not one but three skeins of her Glitter Sock.
I was a bit busy then so I figured I would work on someone else's sock pattern. I chose this design because I meant to try it out already for one Christmas present but then found out it didn't come in the right size. But this time I cast on with this deliciously semi-solid pink yarn.
Let's start off with the yarn review. Oh boy, it was a treat! I really like these semi-solid colors. They're lively with lighter and darker bits but not too lively to show off different kinds of stitch patterns. And the yarn base is one of my favorites. I love the high twist merino base but here I especially love that the glittery stellina fiber is so soft. The bling comes in beatiful thin little fibres to spice up the yarn and there's plenty of bling - not that I'll ever manage to capture that in a photo. Some glitter yarns have rather coarse and hard bling fibres that can really hurt your hands but this was really gentle and soft. My official yarn review is 5/5 glittery stars.
If I really loved the yarn, I had big problems with the socks. This pattern is worked cuff-down. It has a beautiful texture worked with knits and purls. It looks really nice but for the life of me I couldn't memorize the chart. I like charts that are easy to memorize or where I can easily follow the logic of the pattern even without checking the chart.
I never learned to follow the logic of this pattern. I couldn't memorize it and had to check every single row from the chart. So I made half a sock and left the project hibernating.
Then come Monday this week, I finally dug this project up and decided it was high time to finish the socks and write the review. And magically, working the stitch pattern came quite naturally. I still couldn't memorize it more than few rows at a time but that already helped a lot and I started enjoying the project. The first sock was finished in a matter of hours.
To avoid second sock syndrome, I figured since I had got more than one skein I could work the second sock in another colorway. And what a splendid idea that was! I love mismatch socks and the working the second sock in another color felt like casting on for a completely new pair.
In the end I finished the socks in just a few days - and they're beautiful! I you don't like starting at a chart, these might be a challenge but I love the end result and the yarn. I can truly recommend it.
I also happen to have a sock design idea brewing in my brain so I might end up casting on with the third skein as well.
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