Ask the Knitters

Dear Knitters,

I started knitting socks two years ago, and last year found hand dyed yarn and started knitting mostly with those (thank you, Allison!). I really like trying new dyers and seeing how differently they knit.

But my current socks, a rainbow-y colored hand dyed skein, are knitting up differently than I expected. The finished sock is random in how the color is laying on the sock (variegated), but the one that I'm halfway through is striping more. The sock looks nearly self striping! They are the same skein, but are knitting up differently! 

Is this a bad skein? Am I doing something wrong? I don't understand - I'm using the same needles, the same yarn, I cast on 64 stitches. Everything seems to be the same, but the socks look different.

Should I rip it out? They are for me, so I don't know if I mind that they look different, but I'm confused.

Thanks, Knitters!

-Patricia in Arizona

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Comments

[Anne]

Maybe a change in tension? Is the gauge tighter on the second sock? If they were for me and different I would definitely keep!

[Susan]

It’s not you, it’s the yarn. I had a similar thing happen where one sock had wide stripes and the second had narrow stripes. I used another ball to make a matching sock for each.

[Jody]

Welcome to the joys - and sometimes frustrations - of hand dyed yarns! I agree with Anne - both socks are keepers. Susan’s second skein idea is good too. I find it helps me to be sure I cast on in as close as possible to the same place in the color sequence. I’ve also found some patterns are really well suited to keeping those colors mixed up and moving. One that comes to mind is Knit Spot’s Movie Night. Hermione’s Everyday is another good one for hand dyed yarns and it’s free on Ravelry.

[Kate C]

I had a skein f hand dyed fingering that just wouldn't behave. As socks, it did this odd pooling thing that wasn't every eye pleasing. After attempting a couple of other items with it, I used it in a single skein shawl pattern. It turns out that it's destiny was to be a shawl with sparkling beads.
In this case, I'd just finish the second sock and wear them proudly.

[A]

If you don't mind the resulting socks, great! If you want to try to mix up such yarn in the future, there's a great list of patterns from commenter Paula on this post (though they may not all be socks): https://simplysockyarn.typepad.com/simply_socks_yarn_co/2021/12/seventh-day-of-sock-yarn.html

[Jessica]

It's probably your tension. Did you happen to switch needles? Did you double-check your stitch count?

[Donna T]

Personally I agree with Anne, Jody, & A, I’d just finish the second sock & wear them as they knit up. But then I think that the unexpected results of knitting socks with hand dyed yarn is part of their charm. But, if it’s really bothering you, you could try starting the 2nd sock over. Start it a few inches past where you initially started it. That might make the results completely different.

[Phyllis]

Have you thought about using that skein and another and doing Helical knitting? That method really makes beautiful socks and will break that up. Look on youtube and search for helical knitting!

[Mary]

The way to avoid yarn differences is to use commercially dyed sock yarn like regia and opal. With opal you can almost get them to match as long as you are careful where you start the second one.

When you wear you unmatched socks, people won’t notice. I dyed s skein of sock yarn at a class and when knitted there was crazy pooling. It is unique. I love pooling and two socks are unlikely to be the same … just enjoy the art in the finished product!