Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock Yarn

Three Irish Girls is a hand-dyeing company based in Minnesota that makes its skeins of yarn to order, giving customers exactly what they want.

Adorn Sock is one of the company's standard base yarns, a blend of merino and nylon that's machine washable, well-wearing and pretty to boot.

• Yarn content: 80 percent merino wool, 20 percent nylon
• Yarn weight: super-fine to fine
• Gauge: Company says 6.75 to 9 stitches per inch on US 0 to 2 needles; I got 6.75 stitches and 10 rows per inch on size 2 US (2.7 mm) needles
• Yardage: 430 yards per 3.5 ounce hank
• Color used in review: Gulf of Mexico
• Care instructions: machine wash gentle, lay flat to dry

Adorn Sock from Three Irish Girls is a nice, easy to work with yarn that's a lot less of a hassle than you might imagine if you're not comfortable working with the finer-gauge yarns. It didn't split at all and I was able to easily knit without paying a lot of attention right from the beginning.

But this is a yarn you'll want to watch as the colors develop. The color sections -- at least in the colorway I knit with -- are pretty short, so the colors change quickly, in this case from a whisper of blue to a deeper turquoise, with little bits of green as well.

The yarn has perfect stitch definition and really doesn't need blocking at all to make it look nice. There's a little bit of curl in Stockinette Stitch, most of which blocked out readily.

I didn't notice it so much when I was knitting it, or even with the yarn in the ball, but when I was washing the yarn for blocking I felt like the texture of the knit fabric was a little strange, almost plasticy. That could simply be the nylon talking, and I didn't feel it when the swatch was dry, so it's certainly not a deal-breaker.

Given that this is a sock yarn, it would, of course, make lovely socks, whether you wanted to knit them in plain Stockinette Stitch, a more textured stitch or even a simple lace pattern.

But, as with other sock yarns, Adorn's usefulness doesn't end with socks. This color in particular would be lovely in a lace shawl, particularly one with a wave pattern or something else with an organic feel.

Sock yarns are also a great choice for baby clothes, and the fact that this one is machine washable makes it a good choice for garments for little ones with busy parents.

Three Irish Girls makes some lovely yarn, and Adorn Sock would be a great addition to your sock knitting yarn collection. The yarn will set you back about $20 a hank, but one would be more than enough for a pair of socks for anyone on your list.

This yarn, like so many other products produced by hand, is a luxury that will be enjoyed in the knitting and the using of whatever you happen to knit with the fiber.