Yarn Review - KnitPicks Stroll Sock Yarn

KnitPicks.com offers a lot of very reasonably priced yarns. Among them is their sock yarn, known as Stroll. Their solid color, multicolor, and glimmer (silver sparkle spun into the fiber) yarns come in balls of 231 yards each, so you'll need at least 2 for a pair of socks. Their Tonal and Hand Painted versions of this yarn come in 462 yard hanks, so you'd only need one of those for one pair. The price range on this yarn is between $3.50 and $11.00. Compared to most other brands that cost somewhere within the $15.00 to $20.00, that is a very competitive price! They're 75% wool and 25% nylon, and they're machine washable!

The color selection for this particular yarn is very good, with the only really limited color selection coming from the multicolor and glimmer versions. There is something for nearly every color preference out there in this yarn! They also offer a version that you can dye yourself to any color you please.

Now, how does it measure up?

I'm notorious for being very hard on footwear. And when I knit socks, I knit them to wear them, not to hang around in my sock drawer and look pretty. So, I've knit up a few pairs of socks in this yarn and have put them through the same punishment anything that goes on my feet endures. The results actually kind of surprised me.

After a full 8-9 hour day at work they had little to no felting. They went through the wash just fine and didn't seem to lose much of their dye in the process of washing. Several more wearings and washings later, they're still not showing much for felting or general deterioration. The color is still bright, the fiber is still soft, and there has been only a slight amount of felting along the back of the heel where my heels rub on the backs of my shoes, as well as a little under the foot. Those very slightly felted areas feel a little stiffer than the rest of the sock, but it has not made the sock uncomfortable or in any way fit poorly.

If you haven't tried KnitPicks Stroll sock yarn, then I encourage you to give it a shot. With a wide selection of colors, you're sure to find something you like. Their sock yarn has received a rating of 4 out of 5 stars by members of Ravelry, but I personally give it a solid 5 out of 5.

Crochet verses Knitting - My thoughts on the rivalry

This subject has been going around for ages. Heck, Debbie Stoller even talked about it in her Happy Hooker Stitch N Bitch book!

I'm a member of a large crochet community as well as knitting communities online. Truth be told, I've not seen knitters in those communities put crocheters down. To the contrary, I've seen crocheters putting knitters down. This is opposite of what I've always heard, in which it was presented that knitters can't stand crocheters and will put them down at any opportunity.

There is, of course, something on the knitters' side that I HAVE seen, which is what's referred to as "yarn snobbery". And, in a lot of ways, I have to agree with where that's coming from.

Those who know me know I began as a crocheter first. I learned to crochet in the summer of 2005. I had to teach myself, despite being involved in a local crochet club. The members of the club didn't seem to believe I would pick up on things as fast as I did. They didn't give me any credit, and therefore only had me doing chains when I was more than ready for single crochet. And then only single crochet when I was way past ready for double and triple crochet. I took a book, taught myself what I needed to know, and then showed up to one of the meets wearing a beret I'd crocheted in one night. They were floored.

But what does that have to do with being a yarn snob?

As a crocheter, I was encouraged to use a lot of cheap acrylic yarns rather than nicer wools or cottons. I think that this is because most crocheters use those kinds of yarn exclusively. They seem stuck on just making afghans or baby items, rather than using the skill to create beautiful clothing articles for adults. That's been an acceptable norm for decades, from what I can tell. And, honestly, it's what turned me away from crocheting...

For years and years I made afghan after afghan. I made a few shawls, too, but it was almost all about the blankets. In an effort to break away from the monotony, I tried crocheted dolls. However, I was trying to switch to that at a time in which "amigurumi" was becoming very popular. In ways, that was good. There were loads of patterns everywhere for crocheted toys. In another way, it was bad. I don't like being part of a fad. I wanted to make the toys as something unique and fun. When I made a few and was accused of stealing patterns because my designs looked like other people's creations, I was fed up.

That was when I turned to knitting.

I wanted to make something functional. I wanted clothing! At the time, crocheted clothing patterns seemed difficult to find. And in a lot of ways, I like the look of knitted clothing items more than crocheted clothing items. Namely, scarves. I like knit scarves. Not crocheted ones. And I was now living in a cold weather environment, so I needed nice warm sweaters. It was definitely time for a change, and knitting seemed the right way to go. I checked out some books from the local library, learned what I needed to make a ribbed scarf in about 4 hours, and I never looked back.

I knit 99% more than I crochet as of that day in October 2008. But that doesn't mean I gave crocheting up.

My honest view on it is that I think crocheting needs a "face lift". I think the focus needs to shift away from blankets and baby stuff to adult clothing and functional items. The craft may receive more respect if this were the case, as knitting is seen as a practical skill. From my experience, hardly anybody appreciates a handmade afghan as a present anymore, but they'd adore you if you made them a pair of wool knit socks.

Both skills have their place. That will always be the case. But, for me personally, I'd take knitting over crocheting. But not entirely.

My unpopular opinion

This opinion is not always popular amongst some in the knitting and crocheting communities. Though I don't believe many people will venture to my blog here and read this, I am still going to do a write up on it.

This is what I think of the way a lot of knitters/crocheters act about copyrights...

I find it over the top and downright stupid. In fact, I have a former friend who acts as uneducated and extreme about this issue as some of the moderators of certain communities do. And by no means can you call me a thief, because that isn't the case in any sense. Just because I have this opinion does not make me a thief or a cheater.

There's something about working from patterns that just downright pisses some people off, whether they knit or crochet or not. The former friend I mentioned doesn't do either one, and she was very upset that I had crocheted a few amigurumi toys based on patterns in a book I purchased and later sold them to people. The fact is, I had no real use or place for those toys, but the people I sold them to did. I see no point in keeping the items when I've been offered money for them. The money paid for the materials I used to make the toys and for the time I spent in making them. I figure, in that former friend's case, that it was jealousy that caused her reaction. I can't say I know what's up the butts of the people who really do know how to crochet or knit, though.

My first run in with what I like to call a copyright extremist is when I shared a scan of an old Red Heart flier I got from one of those tablets of free patterns you see in retail stores like Walmart. What made it all the more ridiculous is that the pattern was literally for a simple granny square pattern. Red Heart DOES NOT own any kind of rights to the granny square, and they never will. Granny squares have been around since forever, and probably nobody even knows who made them up. Also, those fliers are FREE to the public. Red Heart, or whatever company it's from, puts those out in hopes of luring you into buying their yarn to make that project with. It's a marketing tactic. If you choose to share the pattern, they won't sue you over it. They have better things to do with their money than try to sue personally owned websites or individuals over the distribution of free fliers. They probably LIKE it when you share those free fliers because you just convinced someone else to buy their yarn to make that project with. If you really do think that your website will get sued because of something like that, then you're full of yourself and you're too busy thinking you're the shit to realize you're not worth jack to these corporations. Get over yourself.

There was another case in which I saw this that comes to mind right now. It was a pattern I saw somewhere. It's a free pattern, and I copied it down. It's for a "button tab hat". The pattern is extremely simple, and I could have figured it out on my own if I had the gumption to do so. At the end of the pattern, however, there are explicit warnings not to reproduce the hat for sale. Not even a week after copying that pattern did I see the same style of hat in my LYS. In fact, a FREE PATTERN for the hat was being offered to anyone who purchased the yarn that was used to make it with. And I've seen other similar style hats for sale by people who created them from their "own pattern".

You can't copyright a spiral. You can't copyright a knit or a purl - a double crochet or a single crochet. These things are just basic parts of how knitting and crocheting is done. They create certain shapes, regardless of who does the stitch work. The concept to create a doll's head or a ribbed scarf can't be copyrighted.

And then there's just style. Everybody has it. You can copy a pattern as closely as you possibly can, but your own personal style WILL show in it in some way or another. In the amigurumis I made, I could see my own style very easily. When people saw my dolls, they KNEW that I had made them just by how they looked. What's more is that I don't follow patterns 100%. A lot of the time I'll veer off in some other direction with it to add my own flare. So the finished product is more like an inspiration worked from a base rather than something copied exactly from the words in a book.

Not everything I create comes from a pattern, either. I've worked hard to build the skills necessary to make my own designs. But, even at that, I see nothing wrong with working from a pattern if I like what that pattern makes.

So, yes. I DO distribute free patterns, both online and in real life, and I DO sell work created from patterns I find here and there. And there's no reason to freak out and have a stroke over it, either. So just chill the hell out, would you?