Kristin Nicholas Sock Yarn from Nashua Handknits

The title of this post kind of says it all. This is my big news! I've designed a sock yarn for Nashua Handknits in my very own color range. They've named it Best Foot Forward - or BFF for short. There are 8 lovely color combinations.

My sock yarn had its debut at TNNA over the weekend and it was such a huge hit. It was the first time I had seen it except in the presentation materials shown here. This page is the lay-out as the yarn is shown in Nashua's Look Book that is mailing to all their current wholesale accounts this week. Doesn't it look great?

Here's what the label looks like. Lydian, the graphic designer at Nashua, took some of my spot art I found recently and used one of my flowers on the front of the label. Then she gently squeezed in a small photo of each of the colors in a knitted up swatch. I think this is a great idea so that sock knitters know all the variations that are out there and can keep coming back for new colors.


The put-up is also knitter-friendly. It comes in 100 gram balls so one ball is enough to make a pair of socks. The yarn is composed of the standard sock blend - 75% wool and 25% nylon - so it will be long lasting and wearable. The yarn was spun in Italy and there are 459 yards in each ball! I've got to find some size 1 sock needles and start a pair with the couple of balls I snagged from the Nashua trade show booth!

I designed the sock yarn's colorway so that it mimics my Fair Isle designs that I usually knit in my Julia yarn. I combined solid stripes of color with some "faux" Fair Isle bands. The Fair Isle Bands were designed to look like Ikat fabric. Ikat fabric is one of my favorite fabrics made by hand-dyeing warp threads before dressing a loom. There are many ethnic cultures who still make ikat fabric. When I was in college and grad school studying textiles and weaving I made my own ikat fabrics. It was incredibly difficult to do and I marvel at the precision that textile makers in other countries still do to produce such incredible patterned fabrics. Have a look at this website if you are curious. I've got a few of these fabrics in my textile collection and I really treasure them!

As with all sock yarns, depending on the number of stitches and the width of the sock, your socks will vary from the photos on the label. But at least you get an idea of the color range and the finished product.

If you are a local yarn store (and I know there are plenty of you reading out there since I met so many of you this weekend), make sure you ask your Nashua/Westminster rep about my new sock yarn Best Foot Forward. Nashua is running a special - if you buy one bag each of the eight colors, you'll receive a free sock for display. But place your order quickly as sample socks may be limited. The yarn is due to ship to stores in the middle of July.

Look for it then!