Thursday, January 21, 2010

Full O' Sheep Review



So when I got my press kit I decided that instead of swatching up the samples and evaluating them I decided that I would do a small single skein project for each yarn and then give my impressions of the yarns. Please note that I am not a reviewer by nature. I hate to influence people either way, I totally believe in free will and making decisions for one’s self. With that in mind here is a brief summary of my experiences working with Full O’ Sheep from the Stitch Nation Collection by Debbie Stoller.

First the basics: Full O’ Sheep is 100% Peruvian Wool. It is a single ply and comes in 3.5oz – 100g. – 155yd per skein priced at around 5.00 or less per skein. This makes it cheaper than what I though of as the closest I could compare it to Lamb’s Pride worsted. It comes in a traditional center pull skein. RHSS lovers know what I mean. I always wind my yarn into balls no matter where it comes from, that’s just how I roll, I hate yarn barfs when I am in the middle of a project. So on winding it I noticed a few things. Since it is one ply it has a nice soft twist and is super uniform. No thick and thin parts that you find with something like Manos. You can tell that this is a machine yarn and not handspun. It is mid grade wool soft and has a soft sheen. It wound up with no snags, blobs or knots. It did have two small fuzz balls during winding nothing major. The colors are super intense and saturated, very modern. I got a great purple color called Passionfruit which was a strong bold magenta color. The color range is nice I liked the blues especially the Mediterranean and the Aquamarine. I noticed that they didn’t have a gray but that is not a major issue for me. I liked the soft sheen and the very low fuzz factor.

So I decided to make the Green Wristlets from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders for my tweenie niece who loves the 80’s. These mitts and the color of the yarn gave me an 80’s vibe. I knit them on size 7 bamboo DPNs. The yarn was good, no snagging or splitting. I saw great stitch definition and a smooth flat look to the stockinette. Both mitts were done in few days. I washed and blocked them and pinned them out on Sunday. I noticed that they did not have a wet dog smell after they were wet which is nice! I have a smallish size ball left over I could make a third mitt but definitely not two pairs from the skein. I would say a full pair of mittens per skein or a cabled hat which is nice. They blocked up nice and soft with no wooly smell and not a lot of growth. The ridges in the wrist did loosen up and lay flat when they were washed but not significant growth. I don’t know how long it would stretch in a sweater but for small thing it is seems perfect. So in my opinion it is a nice wool workhorse yarn at a good price. I think it is great that you can get a great wool yarn at a good price. I would knit more with wool if I could afford it, right now I buy what I can afford and this line has the potential to bring natural fibers to more people.





So I never got a  snap of Amelia wearing her mitts she took them right home and wore them to school on 80's day.  I guess that is good sign if a tweenie actually goes out side in public wearing something you made.

4 comments:

  1. oh cute. They knitted up nice. It looks like the yarn worked up nice too.

    Hey, I have a question for you. I have tried to put the rav button on my blog but don't know what I am doing wrong. How did you do yours? Where did you get the code?

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  2. Looks very nice and your write up is very informative, thank you.

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  3. Wow, it worked! Thank you so much!

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  4. I just ordered a bunch of the Stitch Nation bamboo/wool blend from Joann Fabrics because they're selling it for like $3.60. I'm going to make some leg warmers or something simple with them and I'm very excited and I'll let you know how I like working with it.
    The wristlets look fantastic and cozy!

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