I put the finishing touches on Rogue last night and laid it out to dry after a nice bath. Not an hour later, there was a thump at the door and two packages arrived for me! My drum carder (which I haven't gotten a chance to play with yet...)and.... da da da:

Noro Sock Yarn:

I was lucky enough to happen to be perusing the Loopy Ewe site when the update went up and I snatched a skein of Noro Sock Yarn. I was tempted by many of the colors but I just wanted to order one skein to really try it out. Since my sweater was fresh off the needles, I didnt have anything going, so I immediately cast on for a pair of socks.

There was much talk over on the Ravely boards about the yarn and while I've only started working with it, I do have some first impressions (in no particular order):

The colors are certainly as vibrant and beautiful as you would expect from Noro. I've only worked barely into my second color but the slow change from color to color is there just as in all of Noro's other yarns.

The yarn is a single and though its not tightly spun, it holds together well. It has an almost felted feel to it and I'm not having any problems with splitting as I've had when working with Noro Kureyon.

There is a bit of a thick and thin quality to it. I'm working it on 2.0 mm needles (knitpicks circulars) and there are some places where the yarn is laughably large for the needle size but other parts where its nearly laceweight. The sections are pretty short though and it is mostly a consistent weight. I'm getting between 8 and 9 stitches to the inch and I dont know how much larger a needle I would be willing to use on this because the yarn doesnt feel like it would hold up extremely well to wear at a loose gauge.

The yarn feels a lot like Morehouse Merino lacweight but spun a little tighter.

As far as softness goes, I was pleasantly surprised. Its certainly no cashmere or merino but its significantly softer than kureyon or silk garden. I would say it falls somewhere around brown sheep sock yarn as far as softness--or maybe a patons kroy sock.

The main negative I've experienced is that the strands aren't particularly strong. I had a knot in the middle of my ball I had to pull out and I thought the yarn was going to break before it came out. I certainly wouldn't work a crazy pattern in this yarn that called for something like a p3tog through the back loop. I dont think the yarn could handle the pressure or strain.

I think the weight of the yarn lends itself to having most of the VM weeded out. I've only come across one very small piece that was easily pulled away from the strand.

Lets see...what else. The yarn is VERY grabby. If you use bamboo, you will have a total headache on your hands. This is definately the time time for some super slick addis or knitpicks.

All in all, I like it. And at the price (18.50), I think its a pretty good buy for a pair of socks. The put up is pretty decent--420 meters, so that should give you a nice tall pair of socks.

I'm going to work on mine throughout the weekend!

I'll probably take a miniblogbreak for Christmas--I'll see you guys again on Wednesday with a FO shot of Rogue and some photos of the Noro Socks!

Happy Christmas everyone!!