Yarn in Review: Onion Nettle Sock Yarn

Looking for an alternative to nylon based sock yarns? Search no more! Onion Nettle Sock Yarn is a beautiful blend of 70% wool and 30% Nettle that will keep your feet cozy and warm all year round. To give you a little taster of what it would feel like to knit with the Onion NSY, we have asked blogger and knitwear designer Lise Bøgevald to review it for us.

You used Onion’s Nettle Sock for your recent Ravelry project; Fragment by Helen Stewart. What made you choose Nettle Sock? (Cost, colour selection, fibre, etc)?

I was on the lookout for a good sock yarn with lovely earthy colour tones, and when I stumbled upon Onion’s Nettle Sock yarn in a local Danish yarn shop it immediately caught my eye. I was thrilled to learn that this yarn does not contain nylon but instead uses nettle fibres to give that same strength and wearability. I’m all up for natural fibres so this was one big plus and a good reason for me to try the yarn, not to mention the very reasonable pricing. The yarn has a subtle heathered look because of the nettle fibres that I really love. I think it’s the perfect match for Helen Stewart’s Fragment Socks.

How did you find it to work with?

I loved working with this yarn. I’d say that it’s not different from other typical sock yarns but I like the feeling of knitting with all natural fibres.

Did you wash and block it?

Yes, I washed the socks by hand in lukewarm water and blocked the socks on my sock blockers. Blocking your socks on blockers is not necessary I guess but they look pretty on the blockers 🙂

How has it worn?

I’m so pleased with these socks. I’ve used them quite a lot and they still haven’t worn thin at all. I always save some yarn for mending the socks, so I’ll be prepared whenever they show signs of wearing too thin.

Would you recommend it? Would you use it again?

I’d definitely use this yarn again. It will be one of my go-to yarns for socks when I choose a superwash sock yarn so I will without a doubt recommend it. Onion has another non-superwash yarn with the same fibre content that I would also love to try for socks.

If so, which other kind of projects do you think it would work well for?

I think the yarn will do a great job in for instance baby knitwear. Also because a lot of people prefer to throw baby items in the washing machine. But I’d also use it for mittens and gloves where I like some extra strength in the yarn.

Any final thoughts?

Again, I loved working with this yarn and I would definitely use it again. It comes in so many gorgeous colours and gives such a beautiful stitch definition because of its smoothness and shiny but natural look.

We hope Lise’s words will have inspired you to cast on your own project with the Onion Nettle Sock Yarn. In the meantime you can also follow  her on Instagram, Ravelry and on her website where she regularly posts beautiful photos and interesting articles about her patterns, wips and all things knitting.

In The Meantime… Happy Knitting!