Hand Dyed Sock Yarn & Color-Coded Charts for the Win

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Hand dyed sock yarn is such a treat to work with! This pink tonal yarn is from one of my favorite indie dyers, Gina at Global Backyard. I’ve written a full review of Global Backyard’s sock yarn here. She uses a ridiculously soft merino wool base that feels fabulous running through your fingers as you knit. This colorway is called Cherry Blossom and I really love how it worked up in these socks! I love working with hand dyed yarn and indie dyers because it makes the projects feel a little more special, like a collaboration between two makers, which is pretty neat and adds to the beauty of handmade socks.

This sock pattern is super fun too – it’s called Down the Hourglass and I love the elaborate traveling twisted stitches. I really loved working from the chart in this pattern because the designer color-coded the cross stitches so you don’t have to see the symbol very closely – you can tell what type of cross to do based on the color of the square. I like to use an iPhone app to follow charts and it would normally be impossible to see a chart this wide on my tiny phone screen, but this color-coding makes it possible. Hooray!

Here are my the project deets:

yarn details

Global Backyard Sock Yarn in Cherry Blossom
Fingering Weight
85% Superwash Wool, 15% Nylon
Machine-Washable & Dryable (but I’ll handwash…)
100 g/437 yd skein
Purchased in November 2022

project details

pattern: “Down the Hourglass” by Penny Zukoski (Knit-by-Bit Designs) $6 on Ravelry
size knit: Medium (CO 64)
needles: US size 1.5 (2.5 mm), material, Addi Turbo Rockets circular needles (magic loop)
gauge: 11.5 rows and 8 inches over 1” in stockinette according to my cheater gauge ruler
yarn used: 310 yards (71 grams)
finished size: Foot (back of heel to tip of  toe: 8.25”); leg: 8.5” (top of cuff to bottom of heel flap); heel flap: just shy of 2.25”.
duration: August 6 – November 5, 2023

notes

• Per usual, I swapped in a round toe instead of the wedge-shaped toe: I decreased every other round until there were 40 stitches on the needles, then I decreased every row until there were 20 stitches.