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Thursday, July 31, 2008

But Will He Like the Flecks?*

These really got to be a slog in the end, but it's good to know that some of my holiday knitting is finished before the end of July.

Pattern: a variation on my regular stockinette
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Tweed (65% superwash merino, 25% nylon, 10% donegal), colorway Flint, two skeins
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: July 23/July 31
Recipient: my father-in-law

Mixed feelings about these, really. They were easy to knit and therefore fast (heck, almost the entire foot of the first sock was completed during a screening of Mamma Mia!), and as I said, it's nice to be able to get some obligation knitting done early.

That said, I wasn't wild about the yarn. The yarn base itself is nice enough, but the donegal "flecks" drove me a little batty. This yarn is basically the normal Essential, but it looks like little bits of loose fiber were thrown in as it was being spun, and very few of them were well spun in. Many are loose enough that they can be pulled out, and I did just that frequently as I was knitting. Had these flecks been a little longer and been really spun into the yarn, I might not have minded as much.

I really think that calling this yarn a tweed is a misnomer; it's not a true tweed, and it doesn't have that wonderful sense of dimensions that you get with a yarn that is a real tweed. I'm really not sure why I bought this yarn in the first place -- worse, I have two more skeins of it in the stash! I'm hoping that it's not too far out there for my father in law, who's a little more adventurous in his choice of color in clothing than some men I know. (The Mister has already nixed the idea of using the two remaining skeins for socks for him; he doesn't do flecks.)

The good sock-knitting news is that, having done the two pairs for the dads, I've cast on another pair for me, in some yummy cranberry-colored Araucania Rancho.

Delicious, no? This is the beginning of some Merino Lace Socks from IK/Favorite Socks. In spite of the fact that I'm knitting on size 0 (2.0 mm) needles, it's a lot of fun -- I suspect it has to do with the fact that I'm knitting something other than stockinette for a change.


*At last night's bonus fifth-Wednesday Hurricane Knitters knit night, some of us had a discussion about men's preferences when it comes to yarn and how very few men seem to care for tweeds. All the men we know prefer solids (or even heathers, in some instances) to anything with "flecks." If only we had a man like Jared to knit for!

7 comments:

  1. I have the urge to reach through the monitor and pick the flecks off that yarn and that's really something considering that everything in my house is covered in dog hair all that time. Dear Knitpicks: Make better tweeds. For real. But yay for getting holiday knitting out of the way!

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  2. Love the Ranco! I am wary of the Knitpicks yarns, I truly have yet to find one that I really, really like:(

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  3. I had some of that Essential Tweed, knitted a cuff and leg, frogged it and gave it away. I hated it so much! I think I didn't like that the flecks were red and blue. I don't really know what I was expecting. Your Araucania socks look divine!!

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  4. Personally, I like the flecks, although I agree that the yarn is most certainly not tweed. I think they look great!

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  5. What addknitter said!

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  6. Flecks are not tweed. I'm sure he'll be fine.

    I'm blessed to have a tweed loving man. ;)

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  7. Anonymous4:44 PM

    I like the flecks too but I can see where they'd feel like lint on your socks.

    Cute socks you're knitting yourself! Which pattern?

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