Spring Swatches
The new spring yarns are starting to arrive at the store. And I’ve tried out five of them.
Berroco Pure Merino Heathers I knit a swatch of the Pure Merino last fall and fell in love with it. I love how even the stitches are and it’s so soft and squishy. I thought there was a good selection of colors before, but the addition of the Heathers is even better. And machine washable to boot! I need to make something with this.
Berroco Love It Colors Hmm, I’m not so in love with this yarn. Well at least not the Colors. I don’t like spotty transition between colors. And be careful when you choose one of the Colors since it may not be apparent what colors are hiding inside the ball. For instance, this colorway has a peach color inside the ball which I didn’t get to in my swatch. The yarn is quite elastic which makes knitting easier. And again, this is machine washable. So if you want a worsted weight yarn with the feel of cotton, but not the weight, this could work for you.
Rowan Handknit Cotton I’m not the biggest fan of 100% cotton yarns. I find them difficult to work with and I usually don’t love how my stitches look. But there was something about the Handknit cotton that made me want to keep knitting with it. The smooth, soft cotton was actually enjoyable to knit. I’m thinking of using it to make some of the absolutely adorable toys in Zoë Mellor’s book Knitted Toys.
Rowan Denim I’ve been hearing about this yarn for awhile. I made two swatches, and yes, this yarn really does shrink in length, almost 20%. And with just one washing, it has noticeably faded too. I wonder how challenging this yarn would be to use in any pattern other than ones written for it? The shrinkage is definitely a factor.
S. Charles Collezione Ceylon This 100% silk yarn has only 68 yards on a ball. So I wasn’t even able to make a 6×6 inch swatch. And only a few rows into the ball I came to an end. But the yarn does have a nice texture to it. So I would imagine this would be good for trim or an accent in a garment. But with a whole garment, there would be so many ends to weave in.
Comments
2 Comments on Spring Swatches
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Mel on
Mon, 15th Jan 2007 6:32 pm
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nona on
Mon, 22nd Jan 2007 1:18 am
With yarns that shrink like the Rowan Denim, I would figure out gauge based on the washed test swatch and design from there. It’s harder to monitor gauge as you go, though, so you’d have to be fairly consistent in your knitting.
I love your swatches! It looks like you had fun experimenting with various yarns. My friend made a large log cabin pillow out of the Rowan Denim. She had to wash it after each round and was really happy with how it turned out.
