My First Impressions Cheryl Potter owner and fiber artist extraordinaire, of Cherry Tree Hill Yarn located in Vermont, graciously sent me her new color Sugar Maple Supersock yarn to review. Having never used her yarn, I didn’t know what to expect. When I opened the package, I was taken by surprise at the strikingly gorgeous colors in Sugar Maple. They are absolutely brilliant and stand out which made my sock design pop out to my total amazement. Usually with most self patterning yarns, designs will not show up as well as they will using a solid color yarn. So you have to take this into consideration when matching a yarn with the pattern that you want to use. This was not the case with Sugar Maple, while I was careful to design a pattern that would work well with this color and yarn; I was able to use a lacey design that did stand out beautifully. I was also impressed with the way the colors when changing softly blended into another. The each color was brief enough to produce a nice random speckled effect rather than splotches of color (some refer to this as pooling) here and there. The reason the colors do not pool is because of the short repeats. Although Cheryl uses 4-7 colors in the sock yarn, which can cause pooling, she does 2-3 repeats. Sugar Maple has 4 colors with 2.5 repeats meaning 10 colors per skein. She also tries to blend like colors yarn so the 2 yellow will create another yellow and when the yellow goes to pink it creates a nice salmon color. However the color wasn’t the only thing about Supersock that makes it stand out from your usual sock yarns. It has a much tighter twist to it than any other sock yarns that I’ve used. I wasn’t sure what I would think about the texture until I knitted socks with it. I soon found out once I completed the first pattern rows of my sock design. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the tighter 2-ply twist gave my design more definition. It reminded me a bit of taking pictures (Photography is another of my favorite pastimes). Before I shoot a picture, I have to decide what settings I will use to increase or decrease the depth of field for the level of sharpness that I want for that particular shot. If I take a close-up of a flower, I want the depth of field set so that I will be able to see the tiniest detail in my picture. That’s just what Supersock does, the details of a lace design stands out and the best part is you don’t have to worry about settings like you do with a camera. Because Supersock is tightly spun, it also maintains its strength without the need to add nylon reinforcement in the heels and toes and socks hold their shape beautifully. No stretching out. No sagging. Another notable thing is the splitting factor of the yarn while knitting. I knew that would get your attention. Let me explain. I use Addi Turbo circular needles a lot for my sock knitting. However the blunt rather than pointed tips of the Addi’s make it difficult to knit lace patterns. And on some yarns the blunt tips tend to split the yarn rather than glide through all the tiny strands. This was not the case with Supersock. I experienced very little splitting which made my knitting go much faster and I could even knit while watching TV and not looking down at my knitting. And not to forget the feel of Supersock. The best way that I can describe it is super soft which gets softer after each wash. My husband, who shows no interest in anything other than music, kept picking up my socks and admiring the beauty and softness of the yarn. If the colors weren’t so feminine, he would have been wearing them without my knowledge. Quite a compliment! Regarding care of your Supersock socks, the instructions do say that you can machine wash them, however I wouldn’t recommend it because you may accidentally forget to change your temperature settings from hot to cold. Do I need to tell you what will come out of your machine then? I wash all my hand knit socks by hand using cold water and Woolite which I consider to be well worth the effort since I’ve already put in a lot of knitting time as well as gorgeous yarn. As far as wear goes, I always add nylon reinforcement to all 100% wool yarn even if the yarn such as Supersock doesn’t need it. For me it’s worth doing to preserve my work. Conclusion Supersock is definitely to be considered when you want vibrant, softly blended colors and strong stitch definition as well as softness. Socks made with Supersock are wonderful to wear. A real treat for your feet! My feet will testify to that! |
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