Day 10: Sock Yarn

Oh sock yarn, where have you been all my life?  Each square so far, except for the very first one, has been made with sock yarn and now I am just in love with the weight, the colors, the softness, the way it feels in my fingers, the way it drapes, the way it looks when it is combined - I love everything about it. Now I want to make everything out of it, hats scarves, stuffed animals; seriously, all the things, everything, anything. Yes, my name is Ana and I'm a sock yarn addict.
So what is sock yarn? I just had to do some quick internet research to learn more about my new love.

Fun Facts about Sock Yarn:
1.  It's real name will make you giggle if you have a dirty mind like mine.
If you want to be a stickler for terminology than any yarn used to knit or crochet socks is sock yarn so the term fingering, not fingerling as I initially thought, is more correct.

FINGERING! Really? Maybe it doesn't mean what it did when I was young.

In common usage the two terms are used interchangeably to describe a superfine, light weight yarn.

2. The color choices will make your heart burst into a variegated rainbow of joy. It comes in a great variety of solids, strips and variegated shades.  I love the bright and colorful, yet natural,  palette of colors too.  They all look beautiful together.

Check out that corner to corner blanket I'm making along with the granny squares.

Or this stack o' granny's I've accumulated already.

I can't wait to see all 365 granny's together, just 51 weeks to go!

The colors just make it giddy. I can't help it. I wish I could, it makes me feel silly to be this excited about yarn but you can't control your heart.

3.  It's built to last. Sock yarn needs to handle being full o' feet after all. The life of a sock is not easy; shoes on and off constantly, one side pressed down over and over again, unkempt toe nails; the yarn used to make it needs to be durable. Usually sock yarn is made up of 75% washable wool and  25% nylon.  The nylon makes it stronger.

4. It's tough yet soft. From my experience it is really soft. Many brands add jojoba or aloe to lubricate the yarn make it even smoother and easier to work with.

5. It's wool but less of a pain in the ass. Machine washable, enough said.