Cobweb Lycra: A Little Extra Memory in Your Socks
Cobweb Lycra is one of those funny little things in the sock knitting world that, unless someone tells you about it, you could probably knit socks for years and never know it exists. It isn't really yarn, at least not in the way we normally think about yarn, and when you first see a cone of it there isn't much about it that immediately explains why it has developed such a following among Circular Sock Machine knitters.
It is incredibly fine, surprisingly stretchy, and rather unassuming. You don't knit a sock from Cobweb Lycra. Instead, it travels along with your regular yarn, becoming part of the knitted fabric and adding something that our sock yarns don't always do especially well on their own: recover after being stretched.
That difference between stretch and recovery is really the interesting part.
We tend to use the two words almost interchangeably when talking about socks, but they aren't quite the same thing. A knitted fabric can stretch considerably because of the structure of the stitches themselves, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will return completely to its original shape after being stretched again and again. Elastane fibers, which include Lycra and spandex, are valued specifically for their ability to stretch and then recover toward their original shape.
For a sock, that is a particularly useful characteristic.
After all, socks are asked to do quite a lot. They have to stretch over our heels, conform around our ankles, move with us while we walk, spend hours being stretched around a foot, and then somehow be expected to look like socks again after we take them off.
That is where this strange little thread becomes interesting.
So, What Is Cobweb Lycra?
Lycra is one of those names that nearly everyone recognizes, although most of us probably associate it with leggings, swimsuits and other stretchy clothing before we think about knitting.
Cobweb Lycra is quite different from what you might imagine when you hear the word "elastic." It isn't a thick piece of elastic that gets sewn into the top of a sock, and it isn't intended to replace any portion of your regular yarn. It is a very fine elastic thread that is carried alongside the yarn while you knit.
The version of Cobweb Lycra that has circulated through the CSM community has been described as having two very fine strands, including one straight strand and another kinked strand. Washing or steaming the finished knitting affects that structure and helps pull the fabric inward, which is one reason the finished fabric can look and behave differently after finishing than it does immediately off the CSM.
That last part is important, especially the first time you use it. Like so many things in knitting, what comes off the CSM or the needles isn't necessarily the final fabric.
What I like about the idea of Cobweb Lycra is that the yarn is still allowed to do what yarn does best. Your wool provides warmth, your nylon can contribute durability, your beautiful hand-dyed yarn provides the color, and the Lycra is simply there in the background adding a little more elasticity and memory.
It isn't really the star of the show. It is more like a supporting character that quietly makes everything else work a little better.
Why Did Sock Crankers Start Using It?
The history of Cobweb Lycra in our little corner of the fiber world is actually one of my favorite parts of the story, because it seems to have happened in the same way that so many good ideas move through craft communities: somebody stumbled onto something, started experimenting with it, and then shared what they learned.
About 15 years ago, Melody Cowan came across Lycra and began experimenting with it in socks. Jackie Lee was later able to source it wholesale and began making it available through her Etsy shop. With her passing the torch to us, you can now find it on our site or our Etsy shop: CSM Cranker & Crafter.
By 2021, CSM Supplies was writing about Jackie and her Cobweb Lycra and describing the different ways Crankers were using it. What I find particularly interesting is that there wasn't one agreed-upon way to use it. One person carried Lycra throughout every sock, another used it in the foot, while someone else used it only in the cuff.
Honestly, that feels very CSM to me. Ask five Crankers how to do something and you will probably get six perfectly valid answers. This is because there are so many variables involved in making a sock, from yarn and cylinder size to stitch tension, take-down and personal preference of weights, that it makes sense that Lycra has evolved in much the same way. It became another tool that each person could adapt to the kind of sock they liked to make.
And I think that is a better way to think about it than treating Lycra as something a sock either "needs" or doesn't need. It changes the characteristics of the fabric. Whether you want those characteristics, and how much you want them, is up to you..
What Does Lycra Actually Do in a Sock?
This is where I think it helps to forget about Lycra for a moment and think about a favorite pair of socks.
When you first put them on, the cuff fits nicely against your leg and the fabric conforms to your foot. After several hours of wear, however, the fabric has been under fairly constant tension. Depending on the yarn, the construction of the sock and the fit, the cuff may begin to relax, the ankle can become a little looser, and the sock may not feel exactly the way it did when you first put it on.
Cobweb Lycra adds another elastic component to that knitted structure.
The important characteristic of elastane isn't simply that it stretches. It is its ability to stretch considerably and then recover when that force is removed. That combination of elongation and recovery is why elastane is normally combined with other fibers instead of being used as the primary material.
In practical knitting terms, carrying that very fine strand of Lycra gives the fabric some additional encouragement to pull back toward its relaxed shape.
That can be useful in the cuff, where we want the sock to remain comfortably against the leg, but it can also be useful farther down the sock where a little additional recovery helps the fabric continue to conform to the foot.
It doesn't turn a poorly fitted sock into a perfectly fitted one, of course. Gauge, sizing, yarn, cylinder or needle count and the actual construction of the sock still matter. Lycra isn't a substitute for understanding those things. It is simply another ingredient available to us.
What About Hand-Knit Socks?
This was actually the question that sent me down the rabbit hole. Cobweb Lycra is so closely associated with Circular Sock Machines in our community that I wondered whether there was anything about it that made it exclusively a machine-knitting product.
There really isn't.
The underlying idea is simply to carry the Lycra alongside another yarn, and current knitting suppliers describe using Cobweb Lycra in exactly that way, including for knitted socks, hats and gloves. In other words, a hand knitter can hold a strand of Cobweb Lycra together with the regular working yarn and knit the two at the same time. That opens up some interesting possibilities, because I don't necessarily think a hand knitter needs to put Lycra into an entire sock to experiment with it.
If your hand-knit socks tend to fit wonderfully everywhere except the cuff, try it in the cuff. If you have a favorite sock pattern that fits beautifully when freshly washed but relaxes more than you would like with wear, Lycra might be worth experimenting with. You could also carry it throughout the leg or foot and compare the finished fabric with a sock made from the same yarn without it.
I actually think that comparison is much more useful than saying that every sock should be made with Lycra, because knitting is far too variable for rules like that. Different yarns behave differently, people prefer different fits, and what feels wonderfully snug to one person might feel far too snug to someone else.
Using Cobweb Lycra on a Circular Sock Machine
For a Cranker, the basic principle is still the same: your sock yarn and Lycra ultimately need to arrive at the needles together. There is one important difference in how we get them there.
Traditional CSM guidance recommends introducing the Lycra after the yarn brake rather than feeding it through the braking system with the sock yarn, which helps keep the fine Lycra from becoming tangled in that part of the yarn path.
From there, you have room to experiment. Some Crankers like Lycra throughout the sock. Others reserve it for areas where they particularly want the fabric to pull back in. Tension on the Lycra itself can also influence how much the finished fabric pulls inward.
Does Lycra Make a Sock More Durable?
This is another distinction worth making because "stronger," "more durable," and "more elastic" tend to get mixed together when we talk about sock yarns.
The reason I would add is, Cobweb Lycra isn't primarily to protect against abrasion. If I am worried about a heel wearing through, I am going to think about the yarn construction, fiber blend, nylon content, gauge and the way the sock is being worn. The value Lycra brings is principally elasticity and recovery.
Those properties may certainly help a sock maintain its intended fit, which is valuable in its own right, but I wouldn't think of Cobweb Lycra as a replacement for a durable sock yarn. A 75% wool / 25% nylon sock yarn and Cobweb Lycra, for example, are performing different jobs in the finished fabric. And I think understanding those jobs makes it much easier to decide when Lycra makes sense.
Do You Need Lycra in Every Sock?
No. One of the things I love about fiber arts is that we have an almost ridiculous number of ways to accomplish the same general goal. We change fibers, yarns, needle sizes, cylinder sizes, tension, stitch patterns and techniques because each one changes the finished fabric a little differently.
Cobweb Lycra is simply another one of those variables. If you love a loose, relaxed sock, you may not want it. If your current socks stay exactly where you want them all day, you may not need to change a thing. But if you've ever taken off a pair of handmade socks at the end of the day and wondered why they don't quite look like the socks you put on that morning, then Lycra becomes an interesting thing to experiment with. And experimentation is really how it ended up in our community in the first place. Someone found a peculiar little elastic thread, wondered what would happen if she knitted it into a sock, and gave it a try. Fifteen years later, we're still playing with it.
The Experiment I Want to Try Next
Writing this has actually made me curious about doing a more controlled comparison. I am running an experiment where I cranked the same sock yarn at the same gauge both with and without Cobweb Lycra, washed both samples, measured them before and after stretching, and am seeing how much of a difference the Lycra makes in recovery. More to come on the next blog.
I would like to run an additional experiment, to compare using Lycra only in the cuff with carrying it through an entire sock. Because sometimes the best way to understand a fiber isn't to read about it. It's to crank/knit with it. And if there's one thing Crankers, knitters and fiber people generally don't mind doing, it's finding an excuse for one more WIP!
