Has any one else tried the new yarn Tofutsies with Chitin (crab/shrimp shells) in it? I called my LYS and had them call me when it arrived, went for a crank-in (all by myself, but maybe next time!!) this last weekend.
The yarn comes in 100gram balls, plenty for a pair of socks for almost any size foot, as it is a fine yarn! Possibly finer than, definitely at least as fine as, Opal sock yarn. It's 50% superwash wool, 25% soysilk, 22.5% cotton, and 2.5% chitin. Not as elastic as wool/nylon, but definitely some spring to it.
I first tried a sock on the 54 cylinder -- nope, much too fine for that, unless I really wanted to crank the tension right down and try for a child's sock. So I frogged (unknit -- ribbit, i.e. rip it out) the sock and did another on the 72 cylinder. This is a 72 I'm still "tuning", as I just cleaned up my "spare" Legare cam this last weekend too and found a "like new" 72 cylinder in my stash along with two clearly used ones (each one had a chip out of one slot near the top). Something's rubbing funny, I think it's a burr on the V cam edge, as I've swapped around the cam screws so it's not them (any more!).
So, to make a short story long, I didn't have the 72 tied town to an extremely tight tension, though I did have it above the 1/2 way mark (my usual starting point with most yarns). It knit along nicely; the final sock had a very nice 1/1 rib, a good 3/1 rib, but the stockinette on the heel and bottom of the foot is still a bit looser than I'd like (even with the tension spring on). I'm thinking a few more turns of the tension nut. I also made one of Roxanna's I-cord socks, for the LYS -- that worked like a charm, and turned out quite cute!
I haven't washed my sock yet as I want to knit its mate; washing the mini I-cord sock does show some promise, that the yarn might fluff a bit upon washing, which would be a _good_ thing!
Anyway, word is still out on whether those with shell-fish allergies should avoid this yarn (please note, chitin is the shell of crabs and shrimps), but it has a nice feel to it, I'm thinking it'll be great in summer socks. It's space-dyed, tends to knit up in a spiral type of pattern. I'll try (no promises!) to get a photo of my sock into the album for folks to see (and the mini!). Though I may wait until
the mate is knit, so I can wash up the new pair to see if I get the fluffing I want (or if the second pair needs to be knit on a tighter tension, as I am currently thinking).
Sooo, have you tried Tofutsies? what do you think?
(posted by me on sockmachinefriends this day)
