I don’t know about you, but I’ve still got socks on the brain. They are possibly my favorite project to work on when I’m looking for something easy, portable and fun. But, sometimes having a million plain socks gets boring, so sometimes I mix it up, and use self-striping sock yarn. Lots of brands carry self-striping sock yarn, and when you buy it, it just looks like regular variegated sock yarn (except that the label will have the word “stripe” on it…duh):
But, when you knit your socks, you magically end up with beautifully striped socks with absolutely no effort on your part!
Pretty awesome, right?
So, how do they do it? Basically the yarn company figures out how much yarn the average knitter uses for every row when she makes her socks. Then, they dye the yarn in row-long increments, so that each row is a different color. So, for example, if it takes 1 yard of yarn to knit 1 row, they might dye the yarn sow that 5 yards are blue, then 5 yards are green. This means that in the finished sock, you will end up with a 5 row stripe of blue followed by a 5 row stripe of green. Pretty clever!
On the Needles 
I’m so happy you’re blogging about socks! I saved your pdf of the tutorial and can’t wait to start my first pair. Having recently lost my job, I find immense comfort in knitting and some satisfaction in having something to show for all the time I spend sitting around mourning my career, lol! Can’t wait to do a stripey pair!
Thanks so much for your kind words! I was unemployed for almost a year a while ago, and I agree. It totally makes the days go faster when you have something to keep your mind and hands busy. Best of luck on the job search!
I’m a fan of self-striping sock yarn – it’s such fun to knit “just another stripe” and the results are always great! I love your blue-green socks.
Totally! It’s especially bad for my OCD-ish tendencies. Not only do I have to wait until the end of the row to go do something (sleep, eat dinner, etc…), I have to wait until the end of the row, too!