June Yarn Review

Ahhhh, Saturday... How nice to have a day off, right?  While I planned on spending today finishing my first knitting project, the Winter Flame Scarf, I ended up cleaning up a LOT of duck poop and trying to convince my 2 year old that standing up on the furniture is not the appropriate way to stop me from leaving a room.  A mother's work is never done!  And now, instead of finishing my scarf, I offer you my June Yarn Reviews.  All yarns this month are from Knit Picks.  This has quickly become one of my favorite places to buy yarns.  They offer lots of yummy luxury fibers for a very low cost.  They also have lots of free patterns on their site, so it's definitely worth checking out.  Now, on to the yarns!

Stroll Tonal Sock Yarn

This is actually what I am knitting the above mentioned Winter Flame Scarf out of.  I purchased this in Blue Violet.  I have to admit that I have somewhat of a love affair with sock weight yarn, because of the draping that you get, and how delicate the stitches look, and this one certainly didn't disappoint.  The color variation within the yarn is subtle enough that the lacy pattern I am using it with shows up nicely.  It's a combo of 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon, so there's some give to it.  It seems pretty forgiving and doesn't split easily, which is good because this project is my first foray outside of the world of crochet.  The feel of the yarn is super luxurious though.  Incredibly soft, and you would just want it right up against your skin for a cowl or shell.  The cost is great, too, at $9.99 for a 100 gram hank.  My plan is to stock up on this one to make matching gloves to go with my scarf.

Imagination Hand Painted Sock Yarn

Because I had such high hopes for this yarn, and because I didn't want to start a project with a hand painted yarn, only to find out my stash wasn't big enough, I purchased several skeins of this in both Pirate King and Mermaid Lagoon.  Obviously, the colors and their respective names evoke fantasy and fairy tales.  Although, the colors are saturated and beautiful, this yarn just didn't live up to my expectations.  It's 50% Merino, 25% Superfine Alpaca, and 25% Nylon.  It's nice and soft, but splits SO easily!  It sheds a lot of little fibers too, so now I've got a lot of beautifully colored yarn, with no real idea on what to use it for.  I might just end up making a little sweater for Jack... or the duck.  Either way, it will undoubtedly get covered in poo.  For $4.99 for a 50 gram hank, at least I didn't break the bank on it.  If anybody has ideas for what I should make with this yarn, leave them in the comments.  I'll pick the best and *attempt* to make it for next month's Yarn Review.

Happy crafting!