What's the best sock yarn?

I love knitting socks. They are a small enough project for me that I can finish fairly quickly and it is something that we need lots of. I've been disappointed with the yarn I have bought in the last few years though. According to conventional knitting wisdom I heard the best wool sock yarn is one with a nylon blend. When I got it however, although it was lovely and soft (not really a priority for one who would prefer hard wearing socks!), it also needed machine washing. So to my mind there was no point in the nylon. It just spoils an otherwise compostable fibre.

wandering monk socks

source
So I was reading today about mohair in 'knitting' magazine and one of the articles said that it makes good sock yarn. The natural lustre also makes the fibres slip over each other so the yarn is really hard wearing, and naturally odour resisting.
It may still need hand washing, but at least that is just one compromise, rather than several. What do you all think? What is the best natural fibre for socks?

A lot of wool sock yarns these days are made from “superwash” yarn, which can be machine washed. The nylon is added as it adds strength to the wool.

Knitting at a tight gauge will also make the sock last longer, even without nylon. I use 2 mm (US 0) needles and get 9.5 stitches per inch. Some people do 10+ stitches per inch.

My personal preference is a tightly knit, 5-10% silk and the rest a squishy wool like a down breed.  Silk and wool have the same washing needs and the silk takes longer to wear through than the wool so it  makes darning easier.  

Superwash is a nice stepping stone option.  The good stuff is usually (not always) treated with the same glue used to hold tea bags together.  Although I think my washing machine is a bit too aggressive for it as it still shrinks.  So I end up just handwashing these too.

But I also suspect the reason there isn't one BEST sock yarn, is because people wear out socks differently.  A lot of it is about trying different styles and see what works for your feet.

I agree with r,100%! A good, sturdy wool with a strong silk content makes a lovely, sturdy, good wearing, fully repairable, and compostable sock. Mine are alpaca/silk ($ means I only have 2pair, one of which I accidentally stuck in the washer & dryer, and shrunk, BADLY). I love the alpaca, for their temperature moderating and softness, but they seem a bit less sturdy than a stronger sheeps wool would be. So, my next one will be a wool/alpaca/silk blend - even if I have to spin & pre-shrink it, myself.

not really a sock knitter as I find many of the patterns tedious and boring.  BUT a down breed wool blended with either silk or mohair is what I would look for in a sock yarn. Sadly finding such a yarn commercially can be very hard.  Merino is soft but doesn't wear well.
Please notice there is a reason we are saying a down breed.  Their wool is often very wear and felt resistant due to the structure of each hair.  
I personally don't like superwash wool. Not only is it treated with a lot of gick it totally affects how the wool behaves. It is often very slick and slippery and will stretch out if not knit tightly enough. AND many superwash yarns still need hand washing so why bother...

Just an FYI if spinning it for yourself I have heard that a 3 ply works best... I am a lace knitter so mostly make 2 ply yarns

So what makes a sheep a down breed? I found this:

The true down breeds are called “Down” because they originated in southeastern England and not because they have a downy undercoat. Most times the British Hill Breeds are also included in the down category because of fleece similarities.

Funny, I was brought up in sight of the downs, we used to go tobogganing down them when we got a good snowfall.

They mention Dorset, Welsh Mountain, Oxford or Shropshire breeds.  I don't suppose any of our local sheep are likely to be down sheep - cheviot, blackface and a few texcel?

I'm thinking of designing my own sock pattern for increased longevity - with double thickness in high wear areas. Maybe someone already has done it.

There is also Southdown, Olde English Southdown and Babydoll Southdown are small breeds with similar fleeces but are not the same as a Southdown which is a full size sheep.  Hampshire are also down sheep.  
This site talks about Cheviot for socks so that could be a good choice to replace the down wool we are talking about.  https://petramarciniak.com/2019/01/22/all-about-sockyarn-spinning/

Dorothy Pohorelow wrote: This site talks about Cheviot for socks so that could be a good choice to replace the down wool we are talking about.  https://petramarciniak.com/2019/01/22/all-about-sockyarn-spinning/

From that site:

My interest is mostly to spin a yarn that’ll produce

durable everyday socks I can wear over years in my shoes,
that won’t felt after the first washing
that won’t have holes after a month and
that are nevertheless comfortable.

Which sounds ideal to me too! I'll check it out. Excited now, because I still have some fleece left over from a few years ago (so many projects so little time!) which I was having some success in hand spinning....

Dorothy Pohorelow wrote:There is also Southdown, Olde English Southdown and Babydoll Southdown are small breeds with similar fleeces but are not the same as a Southdown which is a full size sheep.  Hampshire are also down sheep.  
This site talks about Cheviot for socks so that could be a good choice to replace the down wool we are talking about.  https://petramarciniak.com/2019/01/22/all-about-sockyarn-spinning/

My sheep are babydoll southdown mixes - the ram is 12.5% Shetland, the dam is 50% Hampshire, the ewe lamb is their baby. So I'll be able to just blend their wool with some silk, as my spinning skills improve. I'm not a knitter, but plan to buy a manual sock knitting machine, soon. Guess I'd best get busy polishing my spinning! Maybe I'll even add some of the cashgora from my Nigora goats, to make some warm sleep (not day wear) socks, too!

Socks are super important to long distance hikers.

Oddly enough toe socks did well to prevent blisters, but they got holes in them pretty easily.  

I understand this is about knitting, but I wanted to mention a small thing about budget.  My merino wool socks clone themselves, as they have lifetime warranty.  

If I could knit, I might knit my own socks.  Since the socks get replaced when they have a hole, having several pairs gives me a stream of new socks.  It is quite cost efficient, but just a pain shipping the socks off to the factory for replacement.  

Cool thing is the darn tough company goes to trail days hiking fest for Appalachian trail hikers and trades out socks right there, nailing the holed worn ones to a board as a display.

I don’t knit, but I wear socks.  I have discovered socks made from alpaca wool.  They are comfortable and durable.  I buy them from a small company that sources their fiber from their flock and a group of other alpaca farmers that have formed a co-op of sorts.  They also sell yarn.  I do no know if they add other fibers to the yarn, and there are a myriad of alpaca yarn producers so it’s just another rabbit hole to investigate if you like.  

Took a trip with Gate One travel down to Ecuador for two weeks.  One stop was this beautiful waterfall and a village that was close to it. One of their main livestock was alpaca, and the guide discussed the danger of fake alpaca products.  He said we were so far away from things, that the fake yarn would cost more than actual alpaca yarn, and so we had no worry of fake stuff.  Found the guy selling blankets, and got a very nice bulk deal from him.  I think it was 12 dollars a blanket.

I still sleep with one of the blankets every night. (Picture of a corner attached).

I learned to knit just so I could make socks!

Agree with previous posts that non-superwash wool or alpaca blended with a little mohair or silk (depending on individual tolerances—I find mohair makes for socks that are way too warm for certain parts of the year) is the way to go. A much tighter gauge than one would use for other purposes both lengthen the life of the sock and makes it more comfortable, as you’re less likely to feel the individual stitches underfoot.

For additional insurance, look at your current socks to see where your wear spots are, then reinforce those areas before you ever even put the sock on! Don’t assume that you’ll wear out your socks in the same places that a tutorial will tell you to reinforce, as everyone’s feet, shoe fit, and ways of walking are different. Here’s a nice quick tutorial on reinforcement:

Looking at my sock wear pattern also caused me to shift my sock construction techniques. Since I always wear out the underside of the heel before the back side of the heel, I now knit toe-up and put the heel flap section on the bottom. This means the alternating slip stitches, which are more dense, go where I need the reinforcement. I then will “run the heel” on the back side of the heel and in a specific location on the ball of my foot, which is another common wear spot for me.

Another option: knit with replaceability in mind. Elizabeth Zimmerman, in her Knitting Almanac, has a pattern for “Moccasin Socks”, which are knitted in a way that allows you to easily reknit and replace the toes, sole, and heel! She also created the Afterthought Heel, which has been widely adopted into other patterns, which is also very replaceable. Afterthought Toes can also be done.

In my experience, yarn made from medium-weight wool that has been spun worsted rather than woolen makes better socks.

These are two key things to look at in the yarn: fineness of the individual fibres, and the way in which they are spun. Really fine fleeces (like Merino, superwash or no) have thin individual fibres that are more prone to breaking than thicker fibres. Really coarse fleeces (like Lincoln or Leicester) are very hard wearing, but also scratchy against the skin. In my experience, Romney and Texel are both coarser wools that are not too scratchy and withstand 6+ months of continuous use as socks. I've also tried Corriedale and Jacob, but these (while very cozy) haven't lasted as well.

Spinning worsted (with fibres all aligned with eachother along the length of the yarn) increases the yarn's strength versus spinning woolen (where fibres are more randomly oriented), but reduces the insulative qualities. I have sometimes done a ply of worsted and semiworsted to get a warmer sock that lasts a bit longer. You can also do the heel and toe out of a harder-wearing wool, and the rest of the sock out of a different material.

I used to reinforce the heels and toes with linen fibre, which wears harder than soft wools (I had a semiworsted Corriedale sock get a hole in <5 months without reinforcement), but found it not to be necessary for Romney yarns.

Finally, I would personally recommend against 'superwash' Merino for socks as it's a perfect storm for early sock failure -- fine fibres, often woolen spun, and pre-weakened before they're even made into socks. For those who don't know, 'superwash' Merino is first treated with chlorine to open the scales and then has every fibre encased in resin to keep them open, to decrease felting and increase washability. While it can be labelled '100% superwash Merino', it is not 100% wool. It can be up to 10% polymer resin by weight. Because the wool is structurally weakened by this process, superwash garments tend to wear out faster than natural wool. Coating in plastic also reduces the water retention of the fabric, meaning they get soaked through sooner, and are less insulative, so have poorer performance as a sock (more prone to getting 'clammy' feet).