WYS ColourLab Sock yarn

If you’re a fan of West Yorkshire Spinners yarns for knitting your socks (and it’s no secret that I am!) then you’ll know all about Signature 4ply … but wouldn’t it be fabulous if they had a DK (8ply) sock yarn in their range as well?  Well, today’s exciting news is that they have  – and it’s called ColourLab Sock!

This is a 75%/25% wool/nylon blend so it’s perfect for knitting thick and cosy socks for your walking boots, wellies, riding boots, motorcycle boots – or even if you just like a thicker pair of socks that will knit up more quickly than 4ply.  The blend will help to make the socks more hard wearing and also keep their shape,  and because the yarn is mostly wool, they’ll keep your feet warm on cold days and the natural fibre will wick away moisture to keep your feet cooler on warm days, and also help to stop them getting sweaty and a bit pongy too 🙂

Would you like to meet the colours?  As you can see in the photo, they’re taking centre stage and the stars of this show are all music-themed.  All the photos were taken by West Yorkshire Spinners except for a couple of mine (you’ll spot those) and another one from a named source.

The six colours are:

🎵 Blues

🎵 Soul

🎵 Punk

🎵 Jazz

🎵 Pop

🎵 Rock

Each ball is 150g which is plenty of yarn to get a pair of socks out of, even for big feet!  This yarn has been a long time in the making, but it’s so good that it’s finally here!

Now, you may have noticed already that this yarn isn’t a striped yarn so let me show you what each of the colours will look like when they’re knitted up.

🎵 Blues

🎵 Soul

🎵 Punk

🎵 Jazz

🎵 Pop

🎵 Rock

Don’t forget that the number of stitches on your needle will affect the way the yarn knits up, and this style of colour variegation means that there may be some pooling and flashing of the colours.  That’s either something to embrace, or if you really aren’t a fan, I’ve got a tutorial post on how to avoid colour pooling and flashing on sock gussets which might help.

What also might help is seeing the socks knitted up!  It just so happens that I’ve got all six colours knitted up into socks to show you.  What do you think?

I really like them!  I like that they’re a bit different to the usual stripes, and I think they’ll be just right for wearing in any type of boots.

If you think you might have spotted a bit of a pattern on these socks, you are right!

This pattern is called Sound Waves, it’s a Winwick Mum design so if you’ve knitted my patterns before it will feel familiar – and best of all, it’s FREEEEEE!  It’s a variation of my Basic 8ply (DK) Boot Socks pattern and that means that even if you’ve never knitted socks before, you’ll be able to knit these because you can use the Winwick Mum Sockalong tutorials to help you.  Hooray!

The textured pattern is very simple, it’s a mix of knit and purl stitches to give a “sound wave” around the top of the sock – and what I loved about writing this pattern is that as the sock size got bigger, the sound wave pattern changed too, so the “frequency” alters with each size! 🙂

It’s a top (cuff) down sock and has a heel flap and gusset.  The heel flap is knitted in heel stitch so again, if you’re familiar with my patterns then you’ll be able to do these heels in your sleep – but they do make a nice comfy heel for your boots!  This yarn is Soul, by the way.

You may be able to see from this photo that as the yarn is part of the Colour Lab range, it’s more woolly than the Signature 4ply so there will be a different feel to your socks – if you’ve ever used the existing Colour Lab colours or perhaps the Future Dreams yarn to knit socks, this yarn feels similar in your hands.

It’s really easy to get your hands on the Sound Waves pattern – you either use the QR code on each ball of yarn to download it to your phone or tablet (you should be able to hold your phone or tablet camera over the QR code for it to recognise the link to the pattern, but you may need to check your settings) …

or you can get a copy from your local yarn shop if they are able to print one out for you (this is a PDF pattern so there are no printed copies available), or you can download it from right here on the blog – you can click the photo below and I’ll link it again if you scroll down to the bottom of the page – or click here for my shop as it’s in there too (and is still free).

Wow! I think it’s magic that you can get a whole pattern through a QR code, but then I am still amazed by things like that and my girls never get tired of rolling their eyes at me 🙂

But wait!  What if there was more than one pattern for this yarn?  What if there was another one with a different pattern on the socks?

Ooh look – there is!

I think that thick yarn like is just right for cables – and the yarn agreed!  I chose this cable pattern because, in keeping with the music theme, I thought that the bigger motif looked a bit like a lyre (the stringed instrument played by Ancient Greeks), or perhaps guitar strings for a more up-to-date image!  The purl section which makes the cable stand out so well is continued all the way to the toes, but don’t worry, it’s not difficult to graft the stitches together at the end!

You also don’t need to worry about the socks becoming too tight with the cable as I’ve ribbed the back of the sock so that it will stretch to accommodate the cable on the front.

This pattern isn’t free, it’s a paid for one that you will be able to get in both printed and as a PDF from WYS stockists.  It’s called …

Of course it is! 🤣   And I expect there to be a bit of twisting and shouting going on when you’re wearing the socks too!

 

Is there anything else I need to tell you about this yarn and the patterns?  Oh, where to get it, of course!  Well, you should be able to pick it up at your usual WYS stockist (you can find yours here) and there are many of them right across the world now.  If your local stockist doesn’t have the yarn in yet, give it a day or so because it was only launched today (Monday 19 February 2023) and it may take a short while to travel overseas.  You can also buy online and your LYS may have an online shop, or you could try one of the big online stores like Wool Warehouse or Black Sheep Wools.

If you want a copy of the Sound Waves pattern and you didn’t click the photo higher up in the blog post, you can click this one here to download the free PDF …

and I’ll leave you with one final photo of the socks knitted up so that you can see all of the fabulous colours – and hope that you enjoy knitting with both the yarn and the patterns!

Which one is your favourite?