a happy customer’s sweater sock review:
texture- this is one of the aspects of the sweater socks that I was most happy with. The texture is a luxuriously soft with thick ribbing. It is warm & comfortable against the legs, and especially on the foot top (looks great too...
I just adore the feet on these socks, comfy.. comfy.. comfy). The foot bottom is a regular flat knit that is equally comfy & cushy to walk on. The texture of the top band on the leg appears slightly different than that of the leg itself due to the added elastic there to keep the socks up. This 'cuff band' looks best when cuffed and adds slightly more 'stay up' power when cuffed too.
size/fit- in my humble opinion (and my non-petite size), this is
where the sweater sock has it's only major down fall. My large calves (very muscular, so I can't squish them to fit) were just a tad too wide for the non-elastic-y mid leg of these socks. The sweater socks were pretty tight on my calves and if pulled them up firmly were only long enough on me to reach just over my knees (without a cuff). If they were pulled up normally they were the perfect length knee socks with a cuff. With wear they stretched & fit perectly.
I
think I read on the website somewhere that these sweater socks have a limit of around twenty two inches wide. someone of my size might see this (as I did) and think ... wow... 22 inches.. no problem ... my mid thighs aren't bigger than 22 inches so these will fit me. but, the problem wasn't my thighs, it was
my 16 1/2 inch calves, I barely got them past my calves in width let alone to even reach my thighs in length. so even if the top of the sock will stretch to 22 inches in width ... the middle of the sock may not stretch past a muscular 16.
In contrast, the foot of the sweater sock surprisingly provided ample room for large feet. my size 11's were quite comfy in these socks without any tight stretching. in my perfect sock dreams, the sweater sock would exist with just a touch more room
in calves and lots more inches in length to make a comfy otk with a generous cuff. I'd truly love these socks then, but even as is ... for the non-petite person these make really nice slouch socks and even knee socks (as long as they fit your calves).
I do however feel that for the more petite sock wearers these sweater socks would be a dream (an absolute A+)! the 5'5" (or under) person with average to thin calves will more than likely adore these socks, and be able to wear them
in the way they were intended. However... I think that because of the minimal elastic there can be some stretching out during the course of normal wear. (in other words) petite sweater sock wearers might need a sock garter to keep these at the perfect over the knee height all day.
washing- the sweater socks washed nicely in some cold water and woolite (with just a bit of color bleeding).
I hung them to dry and they dried overnight and for the most part kept their shape. There was a little more "give" in them after the washing (and with some 'wet-pulling' I got them to come a bit closer to making it over my knee). I do think these will fade to a lighter black over time (as will most blacks.. but at least they will still look blackish (maybe grayish), but not purple or brown)... I did notice a tiny amount of pilling already, but nothing a small sweater shaver couldn't take care of in a second. I also noticed during washing that one sock was actually about two inches longer than the other ... however, once the socks were on my legs this didn't really seem to make a very noticeable difference. the sweater socks truly do handle like a nice heavy sweater ... and caring for them like a good sweater will undoubtedly keep them around for a nice long time.
overall- these are definitely comfy cozy snuggle socks... a perfectly warm winter/fall sock with a great feel and wonderful color. excellent slouch-ability and minimal elastic. Fit best on medium length and width to petite sized legs with the ability to fit larger foot sizes. | 
