Re-inforcing thread ?

craftylady · Re-inforcing thread ?

I only started knitting socks in May 2006, some of my first ones in merino yarn have worn through on the sole part of the heel already. Crying or Very sad

I've read on blogs about re-inforcing thread for toes and heels. Has any one used this and if so how did you find it to work with? More importantly is it available in the UK?

I love the feel of soft socks on my cold tootsies so don't really want to give up my little piece of luxury.

Any one got any thoughts?

Piglottie

Sorry to hear about your socks CL. I very rarely knit socks with a wool/nylon blend as I find them uncomfortable on my feet. It does mean you have to more careful with your socks. There is quite a debate about whether reinforcing nylon is a good thing or not (see this thread here to give you a jist of it http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/forum/showthread.php?t=62734).

The other option is to knit your heels on smaller pins. And I've been reading on Ravelry quite a lot about how gauge affects the wearability of socks. Some people have said that for 4ply yarn, you should have a minimum of 8 spi, with 9 spi (or more) being a preferred gauge. If you knit with a tight gauge, you increase the wearability of your socks - according to quite a few experienced sock knitters whose comments I have been reading.

HTH

Glynis

That's interesting Piglottie.
Common sense tells me that the tighter the gauge the more yarn concentrated in any one area resulting in a slower wear-through. There will also be less movement in the fabric of a tighter knit, which I'm guessing must help. It's good to know that the theory accords with other people's experience.

n

That will slow us all down a bit!
My standard guage, if you like, is 8 sts per inch, but that's why I use 64 sts on 2.75mm needles. Taking it up to 9 spi would mean about 72 sts per sock on 2mm or 2,25mm needles.
Interestingly, the first time I used the 100% merino yarn which is half way to a DK, I still used 2.75mm needles and 64sts and it came out beautifully smooth with no stitch bumps in sight, so maybe the normal 60 stitch sock in pure wool should be "cast aside".

n