Knitting with Wisdom Yarns Naked Sock and Allegro, the non-allergenic yarns

This week we’ll look at 2 sister yarns by Wisdom Yarns that are truly the answer to the question, “can I make non-allergenic, non-wool socks that stay up on my legs?” Naked Sock, aptly named because it feels like you’re wearing nothing at all, and Allegro, Italian for merry and cheerful, are two sock yarns that will have your toes singing!

Let’s look at Allegro first. Each ball of this yarn has 470yds and 100g. That’s a generous amount of yardage, and enough to make men’s socks of decent length, and women’s socks that reach mid-calf. It comes in 6 colorways. Each is named with a type of musical composition from classical music, like the yarn itself.

The way the colorists dyed this yarn is musical on its own. There are segments that are semi-solid and create stripes in socks, which are divided by other sections of speckled yarn that looks like notes on a music score. For those who are musically inclined, imagine the semi-solid sections like a full sound with many instruments each adding to the richness of the music, but in this case it’s the saturation of color. The speckled parts are like the soloists highlighting the themes of the melody.

The sister yarn to Allegro, Naked Sock, comes in 8 colorways. 4 of them are monochromatic, with lighter and darker shades of the same hue. The other 4 have 4 or 5 colors that coordinate well, and play with light and shadow at the same time. The way the colors are dyed is more organic, and the finished knitting looks more like animal stripes or light or sound waves.

If you’ve ever knit with man-made or plant-based fibers to avoid wool or animal fibers because of allergies or vegan values, you know that cotton and bamboo and other types of rayon, and acrylic all leave something to be desired in sock yarn because there is little stretch or memory in most other yarns out there on the market. Allegro and Naked Feet contain both acrylic and PBT (Polybutylene terephthalate), a substance something like Lycra that’s used in thread to manufacture aquatic garments and sportswear. The PBT gives an amazing amount of both stretch and memory to the yarn. After tugging on it to get it past your heels, you’ll find that it bounces right back into place and stays up on your calves. The label says it can be washed in warm water and tumble dried.

Tomorrow we’ll look at some free patterns to knit with Allegro and Naked Sock.