The Knitting Fiend

I suspect visitors with keen eyesight may have squinted and exclaimed, “There’s yarn in that box!”

Yes, there is! It arrived in the mail. That yarn is the only thing preventing me from cheating and casting on my “Knitting Olympics” project before 2pm, Feb 10. Which, as all Knitting Olympians know, would be cheating.

Believe it or not, my salvation is free to me yarn!

I know what you are asking. How did this happen?

Remember I decided that, to increase the challenge of my “Knitting Olympics” project, I would buy yarn from a company no one had ever heard of? I picked Taiga Yarns. I discovered them my Chitika ads using the call words “knitting wool” suddenly showed a new company. Yarn-a-holic that I am, I clicked the ad to learn more.

It turns out Taiga opened for business in January, and I’m one of their first customers. Amazingly, Edward at Taiga was curious about the tag line in my order and read my blog. Then, even more amazing and wonderful to me, he emailed me, and asked if I’d like samples of a variety of their yarns to swatch, evaluate and describe to my readers.

Well, of course! I’d loved to see the different types of yarn and describe them. In fact, I know based on comments that some of my readers would like to read more about the yarns and learn what type of projects they might be good for. Plus, I know I already like one of their yarns; this will help me pick the next one to order. What could be better?

Yesterday, a box stuffed full with 15 skeins arrived!

Tonight I’m going to take these 4 skeins to our Barnes and Nobles gathering of the “Diabolical Knitters”. I’ll be swatching and will give a full description of the yarns after swatching and washing.

Meanwhile, here is my preliminary description of the four yarns I plan to swatch tonight. Please bear in mind that these evaluations will evolve after swatching and washing. Here goes:

• Alana Alpaca Blend: Fiber content: 50% Alpaca / 25% Wool / 25% Acrylic. Length: 150 m (164 yards). Weight: 50 g (1.75 oz) ball. This yarn feels yummy soft on the skein, and I would imagine shawl knitters would love this yarn. Since I’m not a shawl user, I’d knit a sweater, or luxurious hat / shawl / glove sets.
• Birysinka Cotton Yarn Yellow / White: 93% Cotton / 7% Viscose. I’ll need to take close up photos of this yarn to show you the structure. It’s seems to consists of multiple strands of cotton, loosely plied. A shiny thread twines around this — I figure that’s the Viscose. While swatching, I’ll be thinking of quick summer sweaters!
• Cotton Yarn Rose / Yellow / Blue Fiber content: 100% Cotton. Length: 180 m (197 yards). Weight: 100 g (3.5 oz) ball. The pink/ blue and white blend really makes me think “baby blanket”, but I see it comes in other colors. Most knitters know, 100% cotton is very popular for dishcloths. But, the softer varieties also make great summer sweaters, or even summer halters, so I’ll report whether it strikes me as “dishcloth only”, “summer sweater” or “halter”. (I’ve never known a yarn that qualifies for all three– the softly spun ones suitable for halters are generally not durable enough for dishcloths; the tightly spun ones are durable, but don’t feel nice enough rubbing against my bare chest, if you know what I mean.)
• Angora Yarn 50% angora / 50% wool. Length: 300m (328 yards). Weight: 100 g (3.5 oz) ball. You bet I’m swatching the yarn with the little angora goats on the label! I can tell it’s angora just looking at the skein; it reminds me of all the pricey angora sweaters that were popular when I was in college.

For those interested in the properties of some of the Taiga’s other yarns, the box contained 15 skeins– each a different type. So, if you want my preliminary assessment of the type of project it seems appropriate for, ask. I won’t really know until I’ve swatched, but some skeins feel yummy “next to the skin” soft; some are hard wearing “outer wear” type yarns. Each type has a role in the knitting pantheon of yarns, but let’s face it, a knitter needs to know which is which before ordering.