Yarny goodness

Don’t forget that all this week we have a small giveaway in operation – leave a comment on this post to be in with a chance.

Today is Day 7 of Knit/Crochet Blog week and today’s prompt is:

What a Yarn

There’s one love that we all share: yarn. Blog about a particular yarn you have used in the past or own in your stash, or perhaps one that you covet from afar. If it is a yarn you have used you could show the project that you used it for, perhaps writing a mini ‘review’. Perhaps, instead, you pine for the feel of the almost mythical qiviut? You could explore and research the raw material and manufacturing process if you were feeling investigative.

Real Life has been interfering with this weekend’s blog efforts so please accept my apologies for only a cursory post today. I am running late and this is the best that I have to offer.

Previous blog posts have contained the immortal phrase “If I could only knit with one yarn for the remainder of my life, this would be it” (or words to that effect.) The way I see it then is, having already laid my cards on the table, I am constrained to claim that yarn for this post.

So, if I were on an enforced yarn diet and limited to using just one, what would that yarn be? It would be Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend. A wonderful handspun and hand-dyed DK single made from a blend of Merino and Silk (70/30). It is soft and cushy and takes dye wonderfully well, yielding vibrant colours. Being DK it is a versatile yarn and can be used for a wide range of projects. Best of all, it is an ethical product supporting a women’s co-operative in South America.

What’s not to love about it? Well, yes, I suppose the price is a little inhibiting. However, if you get in quick, the Knitting & Crochet Guild still have some on sale at £9 a 100g skein. (Join the Guild for a further discount.)

My first brush with Silk Blend was when I made an impulse purchase of a skein in the Leo colourway: it became a pair of Mama Jane’s (Conker Feet)  slippers, with the remainder making a Knitspot neckwarmer, the Spiraluscious (Conkerluscious) – and then some to spare. Excellent yardage to the skein, then (300 yards to 100g)

A second skein, in Capricorn,  became a second pair of Mamma Jane’s and a Beech Wood cowl – the small amount left over has just been incorporated into my sock yarn blanket.

Two more skeins, in Sagittarius, made an Easy Missoni Style Long Mobius Cowl (Loopy) and a pair of Berry Hill fingerless mitts and the remainder has also gone into the blanket that I am knitting.

I have 200g in stash, in the fabulous Caspian shade. I am planning to use it for an own-design hat, cowl, and mitt combination before next winter.

What can I say? I just adore this yarn and would consume any that came my way, though I am unlikely to be able to purchase any more in the foreseeable future. A pity, because I really would like to roll about in a bathful of this stuff. It’s soft, warm, sensuous – total luxury.

Highly recommended, and a dream to knit with. Just take care with the laundry…

(PS I’m pretty keen on the Wool Clasica too!)
tagged with: knitcroblo7