Bamboo Socks from Dharma

[Releaf]

My daughter and I recently tried the bamboo socks from Dharma.  We love, love, love these socks -- they're soft and they take the dye beautifully.  I love mine so much I've been wearing them a lot and I just noticed a  hole in the toe.  Darn!  I haven't had them very long.  I just wondered if anyone has been dyeing these socks for a while and can speak about their experiences regarding durability.  How are they holding up for you?

Thanks for your input!

[pburch]

Mine have been holding up okay, but I haven't been giving them very hard wear, so I can't really say. (I live in a warm climate and wear socks only three months of the year, other than hiking socks.)

Most bamboo, including the fiber in the Dharma bamboo socks, is just another kind of rayon (a chemically reprocessed cellulose). I would expect any rayon to wear relatively poorly, in comparison to cotton, because rayon is notoriously weak when wet. Consider whether you can treat them any more gently when they are in the wash (delicate cycle? wash separately from heavy clothes such as blue jeans? place in a net lingerie bag before popping them into the washer?), and take them off right away, gently, if they happen to get wet while you're wearing them.

Given the cost of the Dharma bamboo socks, you'll come out ahead if, on average, they last a third as long as the Maggie's organic socks I otherwise favor.

Paula

[Releaf]

Thanks, Paula.  I didn't realize that bamboo is another kind of rayon, and I had been washing them the same way I wash cotton.  I'll try treating them like rayon now, to see if they will last longer.  I sure do love the soft feel of these socks!

[ktaltre]

My adventure with bamboo socks.
Here's a pic of some tied socks:
 
After tying 28 socks, I have come to the conclusion that some ties are
better with string and some are better with artificial sinew.
I don't use rubber bands; I have an aversion to snapping myself.
Tying a sock is almost as much "trouble" as tying a shirt, not to mention
applying the dye.
Next batch, I'm going to use thickened dye and lay thin color stripes, or
dots down, no tying - see how that goes.
Did all in rainbow colors this time, next time will branch out to other
colors.

Here's a pic of bamboo socks that were dyed with procion mx dyes mixed with
soda ash and sodium alginate:

These are six pair of socks, one each.
I thought that using thickened dye would produce better delineation of
colors, but on these socks it didn't seem to, although I'm still applying
too much dye.
The thickened dye seems to make streakier socks than the thinner dye, but
again, that may just be how I'm applying the dye.
I've now done 14 pairs bamboo of socks. huff, pant

I been wearing my pair of bamboo socks.  They come out of the dryer feeling
thick, but on the foot they are soft and light.
I shall probably air dry them in the future. A batch of bamboo socks produce
almost no lint in the dryer.
k. taltre

[ktaltre]

Here are the first two pairs of bamboo socks I practiced on.

They were dyed with soda ash only, in the dye mix, no thickener.
On one sock the yellow is pretty much missing - I'm applying too much dye.
The non thickened dye seems to equal better coverage with no streaking.
I tied all the 28 socks damp and let them dry somewhat before dyeing.
They were all batched in a heating blanket for about 20 hours.
k. taltre

[Jaja]

Katerin, just one idea when working with pairs:
Have you tried to tie both from one pair together? I've did "pair" dyeing with LWI shirts and twins I got were quite interesting.


With sock you can stick one into another or place them side-by-side.

[ktaltre]

Hi Jaja.......
I did consider tying them together, but I wanted to treat each sock individually and try to dye the pair the same - I know, I know, a little obsessive here. And I wanted to see how many rows I could tie on one sock before I went crazy, hahahahaha
Another person, another list mentioned LWI for socks - squishing them into a little container. Will try that too.

I like your twin shirts!
k. taltre
(need more socks)