Malabrigo sock yarn

Malabrigo (a yarn company - they make yarn in a variety of weights, I know there's worsted, and sock, and lace weight) is very popular among many knitters.

And in this case (unlike some super-hot yarns that seem to trade more on their exclusivity and difficult-to-get qualities - or at least, the people who knit with them trade on those qualities), I think the popularity is justified.

The Malabrigo worsted weight is super soft and nice, and comes in pretty colors. I've never knit a big thing with it - it might pill a bit much for a sweater - but it's very nice.

I have some of the laceweight. I started a crocheted shawl with it but stalled out because big crochet hook + laceweight = not fun for me. (I may go back to it. Or I may decide instead to knit something with the laceweight. I find it easier to knit on super-small-diameter yarns than I do to crochet. Especially soft wooly yarns as opposed to the hard-finished crochet cotton).

But the sockweight. I had never tried the sockweight, then I bought a skein at Ewe Knit over Christmas. I finally got around to knitting up the yarn.

It's a really super-nice yarn. Expensive, but not as wildly expensive as some of the hand-dyed. This particular colorway - I forget the name, but the photo doesn't do it justice - it's like they took a bright jeweltones colorway and slightly overdyed it with a dark brown. There are flashes of purple and gold and green, but in a neutral background (so no one could accuse the colorway of being "clown barf," which is how some knitters deride the super-bright variegated sock yarns*)

It's really not unlike the iridescence you see on some beetles' backs, or the wings of butterflies, which makes it a pleasure to knit with - it doesn't really seem to flash or pool (though I can see, if I look closely, a band of purple running through this sock - it's just very, very subtle).

The yarn itself feels good to knit with: it's sufficiently tightly plied that you don't have to worry about splitting (and I think it will wear well) but it also has a silky quality to it (I think that's the merino wool in there) that makes it a pleasure to knit up. And I'm sure the finished socks will feel good on my feet.

I'm happy that this is a good yarn, and I have more of it - in a bright, slightly bluish-green, and also in a brick red. Which will eventually become socks. Maybe sooner than later because it knits up so nicely.



As I said, the photo here really doesn't do that coloration justice. Perhaps when I finish them I will have to put them on and go out in the sun and take an outdoor photo.

The pattern I'm using is from the Sock Club book; it's called Serendipity. It's a very easily memorized lace pattern, but it does give a bit of interest to the sock.

(*I don't like the term "clown barf," because, well, I don't like either clowns OR barf, and I DO like the super-bright variegated yarns. I'd never make myself a sweater of them, but I think for socks - or fingerless mitts, or even a hat - they are just fine, and there's something fun about that bright flash of color. Also, the whole "clown barf" appellation sounds kind of judgmental to me ("Bless her heart but she just doesn't have any fashion sense...") and I tend not to like people making judgments on something as minor as a person's choice of sock yarn color. But anyway....)