How many times have strangers commented on your socks?

If we weren’t all knitters this would be a very odd question, I know! But bear with me…

I now have a few pairs of long, hand-knitted socks that give me enormous pleasure. They were incredibly fun to knit, and now that they are done, I am getting a huge amount of joy from wearing them. But it’s not only me that gets joy from my hand-knitted socks…

I like to wear my hand-knitted socks over leggings with a tunic top or similar. This means that other people can see my cheerful rainbow socks when I’m out and about, and I’ve noticed that my socks don’t just make me smile…

More and more frequently, people are taking the time to let me know that my socks have made them smile too. Every time it happens it gives me a little lift and a huge sense of satisfaction that something I did to amuse myself (the sock knitting) can spread a little joy.

The last few years have been incredibly hard all round, so the more small moments of joy that we can create, the better!

If you want to see something massively joyful, have a look at this incredible photo that Dana took of the socks Elaine and I made for her and Jellybean. And if you don’t already follow Dana, click the follow button while you are at it.

So why are Fab Funky Fibres Self-Striping Sock yarns so special? I could write for days on this subject, but essentially it distills down to a few things…

Elaine’s colours are unparalleled. She hand blends the dyes to give her signature, incredibly-saturated, vibrant colours. Each skein of yarn includes a palette of colours that has been carefully designed for maximum impact. The sheer number of colours in some of her yarns is jaw-dropping when you stop to consider the practicality of the dyeing process.

The stripe sequences are so clever. We aren’t talking about socks with four colours of a few rounds each. Fab Funky Fibres colourways regularly have over 20 stripes in the pattern repeat, and they aren’t necessarily all the same width! Whether you like petite stripes, or wider stripes or a mixture of the two, there will be a stripe sequence for you.

Fab Funky Fibres Sock Yarn is produced by hand. Precision self-striping yarn is incredibly labour-intensive to produce. All hand-dyed yarn is labour intensive (have you tried carrying what was a kilo of white yarn that is now soaking wet?), but self-striping yarn is a whole other level of labour-intensive. I could explain Elaine’s dyeing process, but that would be giving away the secret sauce recipe, so trust me when I say that it isn’t just a case of chucking some white yarn in a bowl with some dye!

It’s nearly time for our Fab Funky Fibres update: Friday 29th October at 10:00am BST. This is the last update that we will be doing this year, so if you would like to ask someone to get you a skein as a gift for the holidays, let them know!

Here is a snapshot of some of the yarns that are available (these come in both 50g and 100g sets).

We also have The Birds, which is an 80g set, and extra-special sets where each leg is a coordinating colourway, and these come with a 20g contrast mini-skein to use for heels and toes.

We know that Fab Funky Fibres yarn is special, and a treat purchase, so here are a few tips if your budget is tight…

• Check whether Elaine is selling the yarn you want herself. We are VAT registered, but she isn’t, so her prices are lower.

• Buy a 50g skein of Fab Funky Fibres and pair it with a commercially produced solid sock yarn. We have lots of 50g skeins available in this update.

• Choose another sock yarn. We have a range of really beautiful commercially-produced sock yarn that is much cheaper and still incredibly joyful.

And if you are a customer living in the EU, don’t forget that we are now EU VAT registered, so you can shop with confidence. If you wish to spend more than £120, you will need to place more than one order. The shop limits the total order value so that we can pay the EU VAT for you.

Wherever you knit, and whatever yarn you choose, I hope that your hand-knits are bringing you joy.

All images © Jesse Wild.