A yarn's characteristics.
Understanding animal fiber blends.
INSIDE: the circle is complete, yarn tasting adventures, trying a super-bulky yarn, purple memories + lifelong learning.
The double crochet circular rug is complete. My husband is pretty chuffed he gets to use it as his meditation mat!
I rinsed it and found the dye ran. This didn’t surprise me. Next time I wash it, I’ll put some vinegar in the water to see if that helps. After the mat dried, it’d changed texture (not nearly as fluffy) and the colors slightly changed.
It’s 28 inches across. A perfect size for its purpose. I’m glad I found a practical use for the yarn, and I’m so glad my husband likes it!
My yarn tasting continues! I’ve knitted a swatch of City Tweed DK in the Snowshoe colorway.
It’s a blend of 55% Merino Wool, 25% Superfine Alpaca and 20% Donegal Tweed. I’m enjoying the “tweediness” and how the fabric turns out.
Here’s how this yarn is produced. It begins with alpaca and Merino fibers dyed two colors and blended together to create a heathered look.
Next, the neutral color, Donegal Tweed, is incorporated into the 2-ply yarn.
Donegal is a series of viscose neps (think slubs) suspended in a fine acrylic mesh. This allows them to be spun alongside the longer alpaca and Merino fibers. In the yarn, you can’t see the acrylic web at all, and the neps appear on the surface of the yarn or spun inside the yarn strand.
Here’s my swatch unblocked.
It’s a lovely yarn to knit with and the fabric has “toothiness”. The neps add extra texture and visual appeal.
I love this colorway with the natural colors of wool. The Merino contributes to the elasticity and density, the alpaca brings drape.
As it’s a DK weight, it’s thinner than the Woodland Tweed Bare (80% Merino Wool, 15% Baby Alpaca, 5% Viscose) Aran weight yarn I tried a few weeks ago.
The higher percentage of neps in the City Tweed are noticeable compared to the Woodland Tweed. I like them both!
This is the swatch blocked.
It’s lovely, soft and the fabric has everything I love about Merino and Alpaca together. There are the little alpaca hairs, but they’re not very noticeable.
I’m playing around with Fluff Of The Andes.
It requires US15 (10mm) needles which I don’t have in my collection. I tried it out on US11 (8mm) and tried knitting with a looser tension.
The label gauge says 2.5 stitches per inch and my swatch is 2 stitches per inch. If I knitted it at my normal tension, I’d have probably reached the correct gauge.
I’ve never worked with super bulky yarn, it’s 100% highland wool and would be super warm. It shed fine strands as I knitted. I found the thick strand difficult to maneuver in the English style way I normally knit.
I’ve seen designer Hope Macaulay create garments in super bulky yarn. Her work seems to be aimed at a younger generation. This excites me! It means there’s more of a chance people are wearing garments that’ll last for decades.
The purple colorway, aptly named Sweet Lavender, always reminds me of my Mama (maternal grandmother). She was a thrifty woman who was a genius at reusing fabrics to create wearable items.
She created a Cloche hat and matching scarf from a purple mohair blanket. The lavender purple suited her so well!
I think about her often and know she’d be interested in the path I’ve taken in my life regarding craft. I’m so thankful for the skills she instilled in me when I was younger that I still have today: knitting, sewing, gardening and cooking.
The characteristics of different fibers lend themselves to different projects.
The trend in knitting I’ve noticed in many designs in the past year is mohair held with another yarn type.
I created my Chasing Light Shawl with Merino Silk (75% Australian Superwash Merino & 25% Mulberry Silk) and Mohair Silk (72% Kid Mohair & 28% Mulberry Silk) held together. The resulting fabric is divine!
I’m educating myself slowly but surely about yarn types through my ‘yarn tastings’ and the projects I’ve completed. How I adore lifelong learning!
And another question for you: regarding your answer, why or why not?
Press reply or leave a comment!
Mystery Quote Of The Week
“Reframing your ‘mistakes’ is a great way to become more resilient. Ask yourself, ‘Did I really make a mistake or did I simply invent a new stitch?’ It's true! Don't be scared of so-called ‘mistakes!’ Challenge yourself to PLAY with your knitting.”
Who said this? Comment or press reply! No cheating! 😊
(You’ll find out if you were correct next week.)
Last week’s answer was… Clara Parkes!
Comment below if you got it right.
Crafting Trivia Question Of The Week
Which celebrity wore a crochet cardigan that went viral?
What’s the answer? Leave a comment or press reply! No cheating! 😊
(You’ll find out if you were correct next week.)
Last week’s answer to: when was the crochet boom?
Was… the 1960s to 1970s! Did you get it right? Leave a comment if you did!
What’s your favorite animal fiber to work with? What do you like about it?
Leave a comment or press reply.
P.S. Be here on Sunday for another selection of great recommendations, thanks to Coco & Pepper’s hard work sniffing it all out!
(Disclosure: Any purchases made through links may earn me a commission.)
Before you go…
The first time I tried it I had problems with the wool. My eyes wouldn't stop watering. Didn't try again for a long time. Did quite a few swatches with different thicknesses held together. I didn't like the feel of virtually all of them.
I hold industrial silk with with my heel turn and toe wool for wear on all my socks. I like knitting multi-colour work as well it's just the different thicknesses for tension I seem to really battle with.
So many pretties!!!