I'm delighted to have finished the second sock to complete this pair. You might recall I used very cheap self-patterning yarn from Lidl's supermarket. I wrote about it here.
The yarn was generally very good in that it maintained the same thickness and didn't have any knots at all. My only problem with it is that it seems to be slightly thinner than other 4-ply sock yarns I've used before and therefore the sock does seem a bit smaller. I'm not sure what will happen after the first wash. I'm hoping that the yarn will bloom (ie expand) a bit. I've decided not to give these socks away as I need to test them first. I'm definitely more of a 'purple' colour person but I don't mind wearing this colourway as long as my feet are warm in this cold season.
I'm not normally a perfectionist, but I am very aware that the socks are not identical. I knew that if I'm using a 'self-patterning yarn' I should start the second sock from exactly the same place in the yarn 'print'. As I didn't cast on from that same point I didn't have a totally matching sock. You can see exactly what I mean in the photo below :
I personally don't mind that the pattern is not identical. If I were giving a pair of socks to someone I knew cared about having identical socks I'd make an effort to find the right spot, cut the yarn, and start from there to achieve the match.
In this Youtube, there's advice on 'self-striping' yarn options when knitting two socks at the same time:
The advice that this You tuber gives is always relevant and informative which is why I'm subscribed to this channel. In this case, however, my type of yarn creates patterns rather than just stripes so I find it's a bit more complicated to determine where to cut yarn to wind and where to start afterwards.
When I searched for 'self-patterning' help on You tube I only found videos with 'self-striping' so I assume that it's less common and perhaps harder to determine cutting and starting points.
With this pair of socks I was more concerned about the quality of the yarn and whether I could replicate the size. This is still a bit of an issue for me as I tend to lose count of the number of rows when there's a long stretch of plain knitting just before I start decreases for the toes.
I'll keep reporting on the yarn quality as the socks get worn and washed.
Thank you for reading !
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