"Yarn Tasting"

I finally attended a "Yarn Tasting" at Nature's Yarns. It was fabulous! I got to try out 9 different types of yarn. This month, they featured the Bouton d'Or yarns as well as Annie Blatt. This is definitely a great way to "sample and play with" a number of yarns BEFORE committing to a major project. Snacks are also served...to keep our "energy up" while we're sampling the yarns.

You get several yards of each yarn to fondle, knit, and examine. This was definitely a "win-win" situation. I got to really examine and "test drive" the yarn....making a decision as to whether it's something I like and might possibly buy or something I'm not interested in at all. The store benefits as well since we provide feedback on the yarns "tasted" - what we like/dislike about it - texture, cost, color, drape, content, etc. which may influence the decisions on future purchases.

So far, I've only "tasted" 5 of the 9 yars. I still need to "try" the remaining 4 mini-skeins.
Of the five skeins I tried, I definitely had two favorites: Onyx (Anny Blatt) and Spiga (Bouton d'Or). I just played around with various patterns using each of the five yarns one after the other. I tried stockinette, seed, double moss, and eyelets with varying results. I doubled the thinner yarns so it would be close in thickness to the Onyx.

Onyx (beige and green multi-colored) is a somewhat bulky yarn that would make a fantastic edging on a garment. It has a bit of metallic in the yarn, but it's not scratchy at all. The color we used had a bit of iridescent blue that was absolutely beautiful!


The stitch definition was lost in the Onyx - although I had stockinette, then seed, then back to stockinette, you can't see much differenc. I think this yarn would be an easy yarn to embellish edges with - the colors and yarn provide the texture without the need for textured stitches.






The onyx yarn provides a nice complement to the plain "Selene"...the two together are stunning and would make a fabulous garment.




Spiga (yellow) is very cushy...and comfortable to knit with. It's a 60% cotton / 40% corn fiber. I used a double strand of the yarn when I knit , so my sample was extra "squishy". It feels like it would make wonderful baby clothes - a very soft and easy on the skin...perhaps a little hat, jacket, and matching booties? It was so soft against the skin...definitely a plus for baby wear. It would make wonderful summer shells as well.