Jennie writes: <<Holly, have you tried using the coarser (britch and side) wool off Shetland fleeces to see if they wear any better for socks?>>
Shetland wool varies so much that one sheep's britch is softer than another's main fleece :) The wool I used for the 100% Shetland wool socks I've made was what I call the medium type--slightly softer and shorter than most Romney by just a bit. Pairs I made from rainbow-dyed yarn wore out pretty fast around the house without shoes. The pair I made for my dh wore out fast, too, but it may have been those boots, as the spinning was a touch tighter, and it was fingering weight rather than sport like the dyed yarns. If the britch still has some crimp to it (at any rate, elasticity in socks is important to me) and isn't too coarse to wear as socks, it might be worth a try, but I would definitely want it to be at least as strong as Romney, and would still then blend in some mohair to make them last longer. Louisa writes: <<As for adding mohair in the wool for reinforcement, that does work to a point. But I've had socks where the wool wore off leaving just the mohair holding the knitting together!>> I don't put enough mohair in to have it survive like that--or maybe in your work you use a ply of plain mohair and the other plies are plain wool? Either way, though, the mohair makes the socks last much longer, and that makes it easier to reinforce before a hole gets started. Donna writes: <<How I love the feel of those angora socks on my tootsies. (Spun at 4-5 plies per inch. - about 10 twists/inch in singles before plying, Holly)>> Thank you--and that's LOTS of twist indeed. I've thought of making some sort of wool/angora housesock. Maybe you'll inspire me to get going on that :) I'm just now making my first pair with some angora blended in. They're knee socks, 3 ply fingering weight. Romney plus 15% mohair for two singles (one rainbow colors, one heathered with dashes of color added randomly), then I added an ounce of French angora to the wool/mohair mix for the third single (plain heather)--probably made the angora percentage around 15% as well. Then I added yet more French angora to a separate plain heather 3 ply yarn for the toe area, as my toes are always cold. It's amazing what even 15% angora will do--noticeably softer, a touch of halo rising as I knit, enough to soften the look as well as the feel. I'm hoping they wear OK, but if not I can reknit the toe area later with leftover sock yarn. Speaking of toes, I use the round toe all the time now. It's not as easy to follow (for me) while knitting, but it eliminates the weak area where the decreases are in the usual flat toe. Darns in that area are a real bear! Holly To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
