SustainableSock Yarn

Here is my conclusion to sock yarn that took me years to come to. But after wearing handmade knitted socks for at least 4 years, I would say, buy yarn without the nylon. Most sock yarns are 25% nylon or a synthetic fiber made to allow durability and stretch. And it did. But now I am finding out that the synthetic fibers that are added to the wool yarn are toxic to our health and the enviroment. They take many years to break down, too.

My shoes have changed as well, too. I wear the all leather Birkenstocks to show off my hand knit socks. So far none of the heels have been making holes like before. I also handwash all my clothes and socks so it helps keep them alive longer. The socks don’t stink after a long day so I kept wearing them over and over but now I change them often because I have so many now. I went overboard making socks.

Bugs were eating my socks. Unfortunately my room is near one of the entrances of my family home and bugs get in occasionally. It helps keep them bug free to cover them so now I always put them in a bag, under a towel or in my sheets after I use them. I put them anywhere that’s not in the open so I can wash them later. So far no bugs have gotten to them.

The socks that did not have nylon did stretch out after a long day. But after I washed them, they went back to the original shape. Wool is stretchy. I work with cotton a lot more and I see that cotton behaves very differently than wool. Wool is very warm and super comfy as socks. Cotton really does have a cooling effect. You just have to accept that wool will stretch out. The ones knitted in a smaller sized needle did the best as far as not stretching out. Changing socks once or twice a day helps. It’s not a big deal if you make it part of your daily routine.

When my sock gets a hole, i can mend it. My sewing stinks. I can’t do any invisible mending like the superstars of Instagram do but I am greateful for the new trend of visible mending. I use the thread or yarn that I have to make contrasting colored shapes. The square shape is the easiest.

Please check out my X account for daily free patterns and I will be sure to include sock and accessory patterns this week.