Sock yarn—do you have any tips?

I have a question for all you knitters who’ve knitted lots of socks:

What yarn can you recommend? I’m looking for durability, resistance to felting, and sustainability.

And: What about sock yarn without synthetic fibers? Will that hold up?

Best regards from Steffi, who’s currently knitting her third pair of socks and is a bit frustrated because the yarn is felting heavily, even though it’s a well-known brand.

When it comes to sock yarn, I stick to my grandma’s motto: “Buy the good stuff.”
I only knit with Regia—it holds its shape and lasts a long time. I still have a pair I made over 10 years ago.
I used the cheap stuff from the discount store for my dad; it always stretched out right away, but it worked for him because his illness caused severe water retention in his feet. 

In my experience, sock yarns that feel more “sturdy” tend to last the longest. Very soft yarns have a tendency to fall apart quickly when made into socks. You can’t go wrong with Regia. The addition of synthetic fibers in sock yarn is specifically intended to improve durability.
Malabrigo Sock feels great to the touch and doesn’t contain any synthetic fibers, if that’s important to you. I don’t have any personal experience with it, though, because I’ve never used it for socks.

I prefer yarns with bamboo in them.
They’re great to knit with, don’t felt, look good, and are durable!

Best wishes,

Birgit

Hi Steffi,
even though I’ve probably knitted hundreds of pairs of socks in my life, I’m still constantly searching and experimenting. So the synthetic fiber content in sock yarn definitely has its place, since it improves durability. If you want to avoid synthetic fibers, make sure the yarn is superwash-treated. Otherwise, you won’t enjoy the yarn for long, since it will felt very quickly. Personally, I don’t like Regia anymore—it’s too scratchy for me, and I’ve also come to feel that it doesn’t last as long as it used to (it used to be better). Among the classic sock yarns, I find Drops Fabel quite good—it’s relatively soft and very durable. I also like Meilenweit by Lana Grossa. Among the classic wool brands, however, the quality is generally comparable.
When choosing sock yarn without any synthetic fibers—that is, 100% wool, superwash (!)—make sure the yarns are relatively tightly twisted. For example, I recently tried a 4-ply yarn from “Life in the Longgrass”—it’s a dream! It’s on the pricier side but worth every penny! Even though it’s 100% wool, it’s held up perfectly so far, withstands machine washing, and feels soft yet has a nice grip! The Malabrigo Sock would be too loosely twisted for my taste, but I haven’t tried it for socks yet.
Speaking of the washing machine: Superwash-treated wool can go in the washing machine, but of course only on the wool cycle!! Then it shouldn’t felt, either!
Best regards, Annette

Thanks so much for all the tips! The yarn I’m using right now is from Opal—I still have some left over from a custom order I did for them a while back. I’ll use up what I have and then probably give Meilenweit a try.
A friend of mine swears by Zitron Trekking. Do you have any experience with it?

And I’ll definitely keep the wool wash cycle in mind. So far, I’ve always just thrown them in with the 30-degree wash ;-)