Does Anyone Know This Yarn?

Found it at Valu-Village yesterday whilst gathering up jeans and hoodies for my ever growing son. Ten balls, all the same lot. Came home to google and discovered it was made waaaaayyyy back in the mid-90's.

I like it! It's the same composition as Patons Shetland Chunky (75% acrylic/25% wool), and it feels woolly, rather than acrylicy. Plus it is washable and knits up fast into cozy, durable items. I think it is just a hair bulkier than Shetland, but basically a chunky weight (14-15 st = 4" on 6 to 6 1/2mm needles). You get 164 yds in a 100g ball. Did I mention that I got ten of them?? I like the colour -- a rich, deep espresso brown. And I especially like the more rustic, single strand, spin.

I had to test drive it right away, so I cast on to make my beloved son a pair of thick 'n cozy around-the-house socks. I made him a pair a few years ago, and he loved them to death. And wore holes in the bottoms of them by wearing them around a sail boat one weekend.



This is a very easy pattern. I found it at Knitting Pattern Central. It's a Coats & Clark called "Dorm Socks" that you can find here.

One sock took about 100 yds of the Patons Norspun.
I knit on 5mm DPN's
I followed the third size (cast on 36); knit 2 1/2" of cuff and a total of 8" of leg. Heel is 2 1/2". I knit the foot for 10" then shaped the toe. This gave me a men's size 12 sock. My husband wears a men's 12, and he test drove the sock for me. It fit him well. He tends to be on the 13 side of men's 12. My son just moved into a size 12 men's shoe, so it should be great for him.

Best thing is that it is a quick knit for socks. I cast on last night and knit for an hour or so. Today I knit for two or three hours and the first sock was done.